Lost and Found
by Fire Makes Me Smile
Summary: The Red Monsoons treated Korra well, even if she was just a thug for them. As long as they believed she was only a waterbender, everything would continue as normal. But everything may change when a member of the Agni Kais sees her fire bending.
1. Running into the Chaos

_For each new generation, a new Avatar is born, just as the cycle dictates. One dies, another must come forth from the next nation. Water to earth. Earth to fire. Fire to air. Air to water. The Avatar spirit has chosen many different souls to fit this role, from different walks of life and different types of families. From the families of farmers and nobleman, warriors and maidens, those with nothing and those with wealth to spare, the Avatar has come from them all. The spirits choose not by the things that divide us, but by the character and strength the spirits know the new Avatar will need to allow them to maintain the balance of the world. _

_But even the spirits cannot foretell the future._

_They cannot know when the decisions of humans, so very flighty creatures they are, could make a young Avatar stray from the balance. They cannot be sure that the goodness that the Avatar was born with won't be buried by the harshness of the world. Because even though the Avatar is to be the great bridge between the spirit world and the human world, they are still human. And humans are always in danger of corruption._

_In an instant, a human can become a thief, or a murderer, or a monster. _

_Not even the Avatar is immune to this._

**.o.O.o.**

Korra was the Avatar.

Senna couldn't stop staring at her daughter. Her little girl, curled up on the tattered furs that created a small nest, her expression seeming far too innocent in her little round moon of a face. Even asleep, Korra's lip jutted out in a defiant pout, a small knot beginning to rise as her eyebrows pushed together. She'd always had a personality that was so much more stubborn and fiery than was generally thought to be the waterbender norm. Senna's fingers curled around the singed parka in her hands tightly, the blackened fabric popping a few seams under the pressure. Perhaps she should have recognized the behavior of earth and fire benders sooner.

A heavy hand fell on her shoulder, and Senna blinked away the tears that had begun to make the colours of her daughter run like an image seen through frost-plated glass. She gently rested her hand over her husbands and looked up at Tonraq's solemn face. He kneeled so that their eyes were level.

"I got rid of everything she marked," he murmured, his pale eyes darting towards the door, "I brought them to the ice's edge and let them sink. That parka is all that's left. No one has to know about what she did."

Senna looked down, slowly uncurling her fingers from the half-finished, half-destroyed article. She'd worked so hard to make something nice for her first and only child. And now it stained her skin with ash and stained her mind with bitterness.

"They've finished building that compound in Kekertuk," She told Tonraq softly as she handed him the jacket to dispose of, "Desna said she saw it last week. She said it's surrounded by walls of ice and stone that are fifty feet high and could probably keep _anything_ from getting in," Her voice trembled, "Or could keep anything from getting out."

Tonraq curled his arms around Senna, her entire tiny frame seeming to disappear into his jacket. The parka slipped from his fingers and onto the floor as he rested his hand on her back.

"They're _not_ going to take our daughter away," she whispered into his chest, her voice cracking slightly, "We're not going to let anyone lock her up in that prison. You hear me? _We won't let them._"

Tonraq's hand tightened in the fabric of her shirt.

"But with who she is, Senna," he said, "and who she will have to become, would it not be selfish to try and hide her?"

Senna pushed away from him, just enough to see his eyes, their noses almost grazing each other. Her lip jutted out, eyes narrowing.

"No," she growled, voice rising, "_They're_ the selfish ones. They should not be allowed to lock up a _child_ for her entire life because of this… this destiny that was forced upon her," Tonraq tried to look away, but Senna placed her hands against his cheeks and turned his face back towards her, "We will not deny Korra who she is, Tonraq," she insisted, "We will train her waterbending until we feel she is ready to move on to master the other elements. But that White Lotus Order? We can't let them get a hold of her. They'll hide her away from us and we'll never see her again."

Tonraq's eyebrows pulled up in the middle, his forehead creasing as he looked over at Korra's sleeping form. Her foot jerked out with a dream-kick and her shin connected with a shelf holding the family's clay pots and bowls, making them rattle dangerously. He swallowed, his fingers trembling.

"Alright," he said quietly, looking back at Senna, "Alright."

After that very little was discussed of plans. There wasn't much to pack, and there was only one place they could really hide, a place that accepted hundreds of Water Tribe people every day. A city, one that was big enough to disappear into and was such a strange combination of the four nations that no one would expect the Avatar to be there. Republic City.

They left that night, on a trade ship bound for the United Republic of Nations, leaving behind an empty house and the silence of goodbyes they could never speak.

**So. This is my Legend of Korra chapter fic. It's an AU, a sort of 'What if'. I've always wondered how the Avatar spirit choses who will be the next Avatar, if they're selective about the way the kid's family lives or if it's about personality or if they just sort of throw it to whoever is born in the next nation the moment the Avatar dies. So I started thinking, what if someone who came from a less than savory lifestyle like, say, a criminal, ever became the Avatar?So, I decided to write this fic about Korra becoming a criminal.**


	2. The New Life

There was a deep humming coming from the ground below her, the constant sound shaking the flat, hard surface enough that it hastened Korra's waking. A soft groan bubbled up from her lips as she slowly broke through the fog of sleep, turning over onto her other side to try and avoid the sound. When her body, still stiff with the feeling of deep, motionless sleep, touched the ground where she hadn't been before, its sharp cold gave her a jolt. Korra was suddenly aware of a chill ghosting over her skin, and her muscles clenched violently as she curled in on herself, trying to keep any of her inner warmth from escaping. This was wrong. _Her_ bed was comfortable, the pelts she slept on soft and silent, her walrus-seal fur blanket always keeping her toasty warm, and _her_ house had never had this sharp metallic scent. The memory of familiar smells, of animal fat lamps and firewood and the salty tang of the sea prunes that constantly hung drying from the rafters left something to be desired in their absence. Slowly, Korra cracked her eyes open.

She stared at the blurry image of wooden crates and metal walls until their image cleared completely, all of their sharp edges seeming to stare back at her and reflect her surprise. She sat up, still a little drowsy, and looked around, wrapping her arms around herself. She didn't recognize her surroundings, the low ceiling and mountains of wooden containers completely foreign to her. And all the metal; in the South Pole very little was made of metal, even objects like pots and boats made from clay and wood to try and avoid the material. But this room seemed to be made entirely from it, colder and more lifeless then ice could ever be.

She saw her mother sleeping, propped up against a crate not far from her, arms clutching at a blue and white bag like it was her lifeline. Her dark locks had begun to come loose from their ties, and in the dim orange light coming from some sort of electrical device on the wall, her brown skin looked pallid. Korra crawled towards her on all fours, her fingers reaching out to touch Senna's shoulder.

"Mommy?" she whispered, shaking it gently to try and wake her, "Mommy, wake up." The woman stirred.

"Tonraq?" she murmured, a flash of her blue eyes just beginning to peak out from below her lashes. Korra pouted at being mistaken for her father, shaking her shoulder a little more insistently.

"No, mommy," the child whispered, "it's me. It's Korra."

Senna seemed to truly wake up then, blinking hard, and a small tired smile tugged at her lips. It didn't reach her eyes.

"Korra sweetie, you're awake," She whispered, letting the bag slip from her arms so she could gather her daughter into an embrace. Korra went willingly, sensing that something was deeply troubling her mother, and didn't even squirm when Senna tucked her head under her chin. Instead she reached up and wrapped her arms around her neck, lightly hugging her.

"Where are we, mommy?" Korra asked quietly, "What are we doing here?"

Senna didn't answer for what seemed like forever, and Korra had to content herself with listening to her strong, steady heartbeat until she decided to speak.

"We're on a ship, Korra," she breathed at last, so softly that Korra didn't think she would have heard her if her ear wasn't pressed against her chest. She leaned out of her mother's arms so that she could look at her face. Her eyes were squeezed shut, a tear making its lonely trail down her cheek, a shiny path left in its wake. The sight of the tear shocked Korra, having never before seen her mother cry. There was something fundamentally _wrong_ about it, like seeing a great polar bear dog refuse a meal or seeing a group of peaceful penguins attacking a leopard shark. It was _unnatural_. Senna slowly opened her eyes, and seeing her daughter looking up at her in fear, forced herself to smile. She gently stroked Korra's hair, playing with her small tuff of a wolftail.

"We're going to go and live in Republic City now." She informed her as cheerfully as possible, although her voice broke halfway through saying it.

Korra didn't understand the full weight of this statement at that time. She didn't realize that she was leaving the only home she had ever known, likely to never return, and that she would never see any of her friends or her family outside of her parents again. All she knew was that whatever was happening, it had made the strongest woman in her life cry, which was unacceptable. She hugged her mother closer, feeling some tears of her own leaking from her eyes, and when Tonraq returned with several stolen morsels of food, they all huddled together, holding each other close and crying quietly. Because now all they had left was each other, and that was going to have to be enough.

***0*0***

When they'd arrived at the port, the three stowaways escaped through a small window, the mother and father waterbending them and their few belongings safely and dryly onto the dock. The only one who saw them was a man with a feather in his hat who they very nearly trampled as they sprinted away from the ship. Korra had yelled a sorry over her shoulder before both of her parents shushed her.

***0*0***

It took a _long_ time to secure a place to stay. Four days to be exact. Four days of sleeping outside the Immigration Office, four days of trying to explain what they were doing in Republic City without passports or a plan, and four days of eating almost nothing due to a lack of yuans. The only reason it wasn't five days was because on the fourth day Tonraq and Senna left Korra alone at the office for a couple of hours and returned with some money. They didn't say where they came from, and after a while Korra stopped asking. After various matters were gone over and solved, the family were finally allowed to go and find a place to rent. Korra hadn't really paid attention to the whole process of sorting out all the official business and selecting a place to stay. Her parents seemed to get it, and she was too busy making faces at the little earth kingdom boy who kept peaking at the newcomers from around a corner in the real estate office.

Finally, around dinnertime of that fourth day, her parents brought her to a small neighbourhood that seemed have been entirely built from cement and stone. There were no satomobiles on the street, and so the family walked down the center of the road uninterrupted. Korra paused to stand on a patch of pavement that was heavily blackened, wondering what could have caused it and imagining a satomobile leaking the sticky black oil she knew they ran on, making this patch and all the rest of the patches that were scattered around. When she later noticed a black patch high up on the wall of a building, she was at a loss as to how a satomobile had managed to get oil _there_. Her parents seemed to notice it too and, her mother grabbing her hand and pulling her closer, picked up their pace.

They approached the only building on the street that was still mostly made from wood, although Korra could see that it had started to rot from time and poor maintenance. It was about five stories high, each story with three balconies jutting out from the building like the Skua-Puffin nests jutted out from cliffs back in the South Pole. She saw a man wearing a funny hat looking down at them from one such balcony and waved at him cheerfully. She caught sight of him waving back before she was rushed through the front door by her mother.

Inside, the state of the building was perhaps worse than outside. It smelled damp, and the furniture was so hacked up with scratches and chips that she didn't believe that it had ever even _resembled_ the smooth wood at the Immigrant Office. Korra noticed some more black marks on the floors and walls and wondered why on earth someone had brought a leaky satomobile inside.

After a few minutes of exchanging words, Senna reached into their bag and handed a bundle of pink notes to the landowner. Once the old man with the wrinkled face and the dark brown eyes gave a nod of approval, they gathered up their meager possessions and made their way up the creaky stairs to their new apartment, three floors up.

Korra now understood more fully that she wasn't ever going to go back to the South Pole and that _this_ would be her new home, at least for a little while. But still, this was a new, exciting place, and _finally_ wasn't the uncomfortable benches at the Immigrant Office. She felt the anticipation grow in her gut with every step she took, with the exhilarating feeling of _new_ gaining burning energy until she was sure it would burst from her in a flurry of wild flames. (Remembering that her parents had warned her not to earth, fire, or airbend _at all_, _ever, or under any circumstances_, she attempted to calm the energy with some deep breaths. But that only seemed to make her blood sizzle all the more).

When Tonraq unlocked the door, she burst past him, sprinting into the empty sitting room and running around it in circles. The sitting room's creaky wooden floors changed to cracked white tile where it transitioned to the small kitchen that was little more than a stove, a hole where the icebox should have been, and several cabinets. The walls were all a dull brown that vaguely made Korra think of tanned walrus-seal skin, and there were two doors directly opposite to the kitchen. In the expanse of wall between those two things there was a large window that led out to one of the balconies she'd seen from outside. She nearly tripped over the low-sitting dining table as she sprinted towards one of the doors.

As she ran around the single bedroom, yelling in excitement that there was a bed, there was a beautiful wonderful perfect _bed_ with _blankets_, there was a light knock on the door. Senna answered it, revealing a smiling older man that appeared to have Earth Kingdom heritage, if his shocking green eyes were anything to go by. He handed a surprised Senna a wrapped package.

"Biscuits," he explained at her questioning look, "as a housewarming gift. I admit, they're a little stale, but still plenty tasty."

Senna gave a deep bow in thanks and handed the package to Tonraq to put into the cupboard, stepping aside to let the man in. In her opinion he was dressed a little funny, with a dark green jacket that reached his thighs and white socks that he had pulled over his pants all the way up to his knees, but everyone in Republic City had been dressed a little funny so far, so maybe it was normal. But the one thing she couldn't get over was his _hat_, which looked like a bowl that had been molded to the top of his head and then had the edges flipped up. It was utterly bizarre, and she forced herself not to stare.

He gripped the edge of his strange hat lightly and tipped his head to her, an odd sort of bow.

"Let me introduce myself," he said with a wide smile, "My name is Ju Lin, your neighbour. Are you folks new to Republic City?"

Before Senna could respond an excited shout came from the bedroom and Korra came sprinting out holding what looked like a small square of sheet stuffed full of fluff over her head.

"Mommy, mommy, look what I found!" the young girl sang, waving the object excitedly, "It was in the bed and it's all soft and squishy and what do you think it is? I've never seen anything like it be-" she trailed off as she finally noticed Ju Lin, who stood there kindly waiting for her excitement to cool down, "-fore." She finished slowly, lowering the object. He smiled at her before pointing at it.

"That, my dear girl, is a pillow," he explained, "Folks put their heads on it when they're sleeping. It's more comfortable that way."

Korra frowned at Ju Lin for a moment, her lip jutting out in a confused pout, before a look of understanding dawned over her face.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, "It's a zhentou! I've never heard it called a pillow before," She held it out in front of her again and what looked like a white cloth bag fell off it onto the floor. She cocked her head to the side and pouted again, "And I've never seen a zhentou like this before…"

Ju Lin smiled at Korra with fondness and she smiled back. She reached out an arm and pointed at his hat.

"Your hat's all funny." She announced, "And why are you wearing it inside? Doesn't your head get all hot and sweaty?"

"Korra!" Senna scolded, placing a hand on her daughter's shoulder. It didn't matter how strange the man's hat-wearing habits were (after all, what other reason was there to wear a hat other than to keep warm?) it was rude to ask it like that. Ju Lin just waved it off.

"Oh, it's quite all right, ma'am," he said to Senna, kneeling down so that he and Korra were level, "I've got lots of hats in the apartment next door if you'd like to see," he whispered conspiratorially, Korra's eyes immediately lighting up, "My grandson Kuqui is there right now, I bet he'd show you them if you asked."

She quickly whirled around to face her mother, her eyes widening and her lip jutting out.

"Please mom can I please, please go next door to look at the man's funny hats?" she begged very quickly, her hands folding in front of her as she practically jumped up and down. Senna saw Ju Lin laughing silently.

"Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt," she said slowly. Korra let out a whoop of excitement and was sprinting out the door before Senna could get out a 'but only if you're polite'. Senna sighed, shaking her head slightly, as Korra made a full 180, ran back to the door frame, and made two quick bows.

"Thank you mom, thank you Mr. funny hat man," She said, bowing at each 'name', and then turned and ran for Ju Lin's front door again. Distantly Senna heard furious knocking and Korra yell, "Hi Kuqui! Could you show me your hats?"

Tonraq laughed fondly, walking out of the kitchen and giving a short respectful bow to their guest as Ju Lin straightened back up from his crouch.

"Korra's going to give that boy a heart attack," Tonraq chuckled, taking his wife's hand in his, "Not many people can handle her…personality." Ju Lin smiled kindly.

"Yes, she seems very high energy." He said.

Suddenly, faster than Korra had spun around just a moment ago, Ju Lin's expression turned grim, taking off his strange hat to reveal a head of thinning white hair. He looked back and forth between Tonraq and Senna.

"Are there any waterbenders in your family?" he asked quietly, as if scared to be heard. Senna's eyebrows shot straight up, and she exchanged a glance with her husband. Tonraq frowned at their new neighbour.

"And if there were?" he asked slowly, his grip tightening around Senna's. Ju Lin raised his hands out in front of him, palms out.

"Then it would be nothing that I would mind," he explained quickly. He glanced over his shoulder at the door Korra had left open and lowered his voice to barely a whisper, "It's just that the folks who run this here neighbourhood, the Agni Kais, they don't take too kindly to people from the Water Tribes. And they don't usually tolerate waterbenders at all. They've got an old feud between them and another Triad, the Red Monsoons, and they're a group made up of _only_ waterbenders. I'd suggest you take your little one and get out of here as soon as you can before they get too unfriendly. It's not safe."

He swiftly replaced his strange hat, and with a last small bow of his head and a 'good day', Ju Lin left the shocked pair alone in their new apartment.

A moment after Ju Lin disappeared through the door Korra burst back in, donning a hat similar to his, except bright purple, with a big green feather extending from the back of her head like another wolftail.

"Look what I found!" She shouted, spinning around to better show off her new fabulous article of clothing. When her parents' reactions weren't the enthusiastic ones she expected, she turned to look and them and frowned, "What's wrong?" she asked, seeing their nervous expressions.

***0*0***

"Whad'ya _mean_ I can't waterbend?" Korra screamed, throwing down her fists onto the table and making it buckle dangerously, "First you say I'm not allowed to bend the other elements, and now this?" Her parents tried to hush her, to try and get her to keep her voice down, but it was no use, "You can't make me!" She shrieked, sparks jumping from her fingertips like firecrackers, "I'll bend whatever element I want, whenever I want to! _You can't make me stop._"

The fire around her hands began to grow to dangerous heights, burning brighter and flickering less as her anger escalated until Tonraq took a step back nervously. He and Senna exchanged a glance, both wondering if their daughter was going to set the building on fire. Senna figured it would be best for Korra to expend her energy with a tantrum, wearing herself out until she collapsed, unable to fight anymore after her own fury. That is, Senna figured that until Korra began to punch around herself wildly, sending off bursts of flame, and Senna decided a slightly different tactic would be necessary. Water curled from the pouch at Senna's hip, following the woman's flowing wrist movements.

When Korra's hands were frozen together, extinguishing the fire, all she had left to do was throw herself onto the ground and start screaming that it wasn't fair. The parents stood silently, waiting for Korra to tire, but when five minutes later she was still screaming, starting on how she hated Republic City and wanted to go back to her _real _home, they decided that enough was enough. Senna grabbed Korra's upper arms and lifted her right off the ground, holding fast even as she began to flail and screech even louder.

"ENOUGH," Senna yelled over her, shocking the child into momentary silence, and she spoke before the shrieking could start up again, "We aren't going back to the South Pole, Korra! Not ever! And if anyone sees you bending anything but water, _they'll take you away Korra._ They'll take you and lock you up in a prison so that they can train you to be the kind of Avatar they think they want."

Korra sniffed, her blue eyes shining with angry tears as she continued to kick at the air weakly.

"But why can't I bend water now?" she sobbed, her shoulders starting to shake under Senna's hands, "It was all I had left. Why are you taking that from me?"

The mother sighed, gently putting Korra back on the ground. This time she stood still, her shoulders hunched and the hair that was falling out of her wolftail hiding her face. With her hands trapped in ice like that, she looked like a prisoner already. Senna's heart sank.

"Oh sweetie," Senna whispered, putting a finger under Korra's chin and tilting it up so that she was forced to look her in the eye, "I wish I didn't have to. I really do. But there are some bad people here who would want to hurt you if they ever discovered what you could do. It's not safe to waterbend, at least until we can find a different place to stay."

***0*0***

The first time Korra met Ranshao was at the market place. It had been one of her very first trips there after arriving to Republic City (her parents had only been buying the bare necessities until they'd both gotten a fairly steady job at the docks anyways, and it wasn't much fun for the child to follow her parents around stands of interesting things if there was no chance of convincing them to buy things for her) and in her excitement had broken free from her parents, running through the many stalls and stands to try and see as much as she could. But the things she saw unfortunately didn't include a scrawny man wearing a long red coat trimmed in yellow until after she'd crashed into him while turning a corner much too quickly.

He spun around as she fell back, landing on the ground with an 'oof', his full lips pulling back in a snarl. He seemed younger than those in the small group of people surrounding him, around thirty years old at the most, with a head of neatly gelled back black hair and eyes that glinted like amber beneath lashes that seemed much too thick for a boy. As those eyes fell on her, Korra noticed his nose ended in a peculiar sort of point. Another man, this one in black and wearing a red scarf, placed a hand on his shoulder as if to steady him.

"You okay sir?" he asked quietly, and the man harshly shrugged him off.

"Of course I'm okay," He snapped in a raspy voice, jabbing a finger at Korra as she pushed herself to her feet, "It was just a stupid little Water Tribe brat."

"Hey!" Korra yelled, putting her fists on her hips, "Who are you calling stupid?"

The man rolled his eyes and turned sharply, his shiny black shoes slapping on the pavement. He was ignoring her, Korra suddenly realized. He'd insulted her, and now he was ignoring her, like it was beneath him to further acknowledge her existence. There was a nearby puddle of water on the ground from the morning's rain, and Korra could feel it singing out to her blood, daring her to disobey her parents and give this mean guy what he deserved. Glancing over her shoulder to see that her parents were still out of sight, she decided that what they didn't know wouldn't hurt them.

"Where are you going?" Korra growled, reaching a hand towards the water and curling it towards her. A stream of water followed her fingers' path as she pulled her hand back, and ignoring the gasps at her display of bending, snapped it forward with a sharp jerk of her arms. A long, thin water whip lashed out, cracking against the back of the man's head with a loud _SNAP._

Suddenly the entire market seemed to go silent.

The man gripped his hand into tight fists, and a moment later they were ablaze. As he spun around, pulling back to hit her with a torrent of flame, Korra set her jaw and squared off her stance. She may not have had any firebending training, but she was the Avatar. The knowledge was there somewhere.

But before she needed it, an orb of water flew out of the crowd and hit the man square in the face, drenching him and extinguishing his flames. He sputtered, pushing off his companions' worried hands as he looked around in outrage.

"Who did that!" he screamed, his entire body beginning to steam as his rage heated the water on his skin. The market remained as silent as a funeral, seemingly everyone's jaws going limp. Korra herself looked into the crowd of faces, trying to see who it was who had saved her, and for an instant she caught the eye of a man dressed in grey. His gaze was an icy blue, but his smile seemed genuine enough, and almost _approving _in a strange sort of way, before he turned and disappeared back into the sea of faces. The firebending man was not content with his lack of answers, and his fists began to smoke. "I swear, if no one answers me, I will burn this entire place to the ground!"

There was a collective gasp among the crowd, and suddenly an urgent buzz started up, everyone whispering desperately to the one next to them, trying to find a person in the market who had seen the waterbender, _before_ the man carried out his promise. Korra heard a woman who was close by whispering something about 'Agni Kais' and a 'Ranshao', but she was distracted from the rest of the words by a familiar voice shouting from nearby.

"Korra!" Tonraq fell to his knees in front of his little girl, pulling her into a bone-crushing hug for an instant before releasing her to hold her out at arm's length. Korra guessed that he was trying to make his expression scolding, but to her it only looked relieved. A moment later her mother appeared, and as her sharp eyes took in the parts of the scene, from the soaking man with flames beginning to appear around his hands to the terrified expressions of the crowd and lastly to the puddle on the ground, her face snapped to furious.

"Did you waterbend at that man, young lady?" she asked darkly, crossing her arms. Tonraq glanced at the firebending man, then down at Korra again in fearful understanding. Korra just jutted out her bottom lip and looked up defiantly at her mother.

"Yes, I did," she said matter-of-factly, as if asking what Senna was planning on doing about it. Senna's eyes flared dangerously, and she reached out and grabbed Korra's wrist, yanking her out of her father's grasp.

"You _know_ you're not supposed to bend, Korra," her grip tightened uncomfortably, "I don't care what you _think_ this man did to deserve it; I don't care what he _actually_ did to deserve it. For the last time, _you are not to bend under any circumstances_. Do I make myself clear?"

Korra looked past Senna at the man, who was still glaring at her with more hate she'd seen in someone's eyes since that time she'd buried her old neighbour, Kaniq, in the snow and accidently forgot him there when she'd gone home for dinner. He'd nearly frozen to death, and still hadn't spoken to her by the time they left the Pole for Republic City. She held the man's amber gaze for a moment longer before reluctantly dropping her eyes down to the soaking pavement at his feet. Seeing his seeping wet shoes made her feel smug enough to force out a 'yes mom'.

Senna nodded once, releasing her hold on Korra's wrist, then turned and bowed respectfully to the man.

"I am terribly sorry, sir," she apologized humbly, "My daughter is terribly impulsive at the worst of times. She doesn't yet understand that her _bending_," Senna said it like a bad word that tasted bitter on her tongue, "is not always welcome."

The man's eyes glanced at the family, the burly Tonraq still kneeling on the ground, tiny Korra still glaring at him bitterly, and the petite Senna apologizing to him in a voice that betrayed the slightest lilt of anger underneath the thick Water Tribe accent. He snorted, the fire at his hands extinguishing as he seemed to decide that this pathetic family was not worth his anger. He jabbed a finger at Senna.

"You had better control that little savage of yours," he snapped, "And don't think I'll just forget this. _No one_ makes a fool out of Ranshao and gets away with it." Stepping back into his cluster of black-clad men, the man, Ranshao, smoothed a hand over his still-impeccable hair, "I'll be seeing you later." He warned in a low voice, turning on his heel and walking away. The crowd parted for him as if anyone who dared to even brush him would instantly burst into flames.

Korra would find out later that the man who she insulted, who she had so boldly water whipped in a small burst of anger, was the leader of the Agni Kai Triad. It would earn her some respect in years to come, but the truth was that she'd never known what she'd done had been dangerous. Not until he'd paid her family the visit he'd promised.


	3. Much too Young

Korra sat on the balcony of her family's apartment, watching the pouring rain with almost bored admiration. The stuff had fascinated her at first, having mostly snow in the South Pole, but she was quickly learning that Republic City spent a lot of time with overcast skies and buckets of water falling. And yet, although she was getting tired of it already, she could never pretend it wasn't pretty, or that it didn't make her senses tingle with power even though the moon was waning close to becoming completely dark.

Three weeks had gone by since she'd been to the market, and it seemed to her that nothing significant had changed after that day. Of course, something in her seven year old mind could recognize that her parents were trying very hard to keep something from her, some sort of terrible truth they didn't want her to know, but she couldn't bring herself to care enough to try and get it out of them. Whatever was bothering them, it was their own fault for trying to keep her from bending. Bending made her who she _was_, and they'd been stupid to try and supress it in her, _especially_ her waterbending.

She poked her hand through the wood railings so that it hovered just where the sheet of rain began, pouring from the roof that was three stories up, feeling tiny splashes of water straying from the mass to land on her skin. A scuffing noise and a small head poked up from the balcony next to hers made her jerk her hand back in guilty surprise. She immediately scolded herself for it. It wasn't as if she had been doing anything _wrong._

"Hey Korra," her neighbour, Kuqui, said timidly, his wide green eyes still visible despite the curtain of rain between them, "Do you… do you want to come over and play?"

Korra pouted at the small boy, looking again out at the rain, then behind her shoulder where her parents were making dinner. They'd gotten back from the docks that afternoon with a bit of extra food, apparently purchased from some Water Tribe food store that was in a South Pole neighbourhood (Korra had asked why they hadn't moved there when they'd first arrived. Tonraq had said it was because they were worried they'd meet someone they knew) and now they were slaving away to prepare a fried sea crab and sea squid dish, and she detected a salty nip in the air that she would recognize anywhere as sea prunes.

She looked back out at the rain, the water, and felt a zing of energy from it. She was feeling restless that night, and her rebellious streak was showing its head again.

"I've got a better idea," she told Kuqui, standing up and brushing off the back of her pants with two quick strokes, "Let's go and play outside."

Kuqui immediately balked, his tiny pale hands tightening around the splintering wood railing as he looked over to stare at the impenetrable downpour. Korra thought she heard the greenish-gray wood crack under the pressure of his grip.

"B-but," Kuqui said slowly, his eyes turning back to her nervously, "We'll get all wet. And your parents told you not to leave the building when you're alone. And the storm, there could be lightning later. It could be dangerous…"

Korra snorted. He'd done this last week too, when she'd wanted to play on the roof, going off about how they could fall off or get heat stroke from lack of shade or accidentally trample one of Mr. Bikai's prized urban-grown cabbages (which would no doubt result in a fate worse than death, even Korra had to admit). For being a year older than her, he sure was a scaredy owl cat,

"My _parents_ don't know _anything_. And the storm's not going to hurt us. Come on, I'm going to go crazy if I have to spend five more minutes in this stupid building." Korra approached the railing and, with one more glance behind her to make sure her parents' backs were turned, vaulted over it. Kuqui gasped and stuck his head out over his railing, getting his hair drenched instantly, and let out a great sigh of relief when he saw Korra on the balcony beneath their floor, her hands frozen right onto the railing with waterbending as her feet scrambled to find purchase. Eventually she was able to pull herself to safety and unfreeze her fingers. She bent off the water clinging to the bare skin of her arms and looked up at Kuqui expectantly.

"But I can't bend!" he whispered loudly, glancing behind him. Korra laughed.

"Doesn't matter. I think I can bend you down here. I've been practicing."

Kuqui raised his eyebrows, simultaneously asking 'you have?' and 'Are you sure, because I don't think you're sure'. Korra rolled her eyes at him before closing them, inhaling deeply so that the scent of the storm settled deep in her lungs. She curled her arms into her chest, crossing them at the wrists, and slowly exhaled. As her breath released she gently rolled her wrists and let the movement travel up her arm as she pulled them back, then slowly brought them forward in a flowing, circular motion. The rain slowed and shivered in the air, collecting together and flowing as if an invisible surface, much like a bridge, had been erected between Kuqui's balcony and the one that Korra now stood on. Her brow creased with effort and her bottom lip jutting out, Korra slowly curled her hands into fists, and then jerked the fingers out so that they were stretched and splayed. The water froze in place, rain continuing to patter against the ice. It wouldn't have been particularly impressive for, say, a master waterbender, since almost anyone can get _rain_ to do whatever the bender needed, but for one as small as Korra it was an achievement indeed, and not one without effort. Her arms began to quake.

"Hurry up!" she bit out from between clenched teeth. Kuqui, despite still being a little skeptical about the safety of this idea, hesitantly climbed over his railing and placed a trembling foot on the ice. When nothing monumentally bad happened, he added another. For a moment the ice held, but then it buckled and cracked under his weight, and with a surprised yelp his feet slipped out from under him, sending him sliding down the bridge on his back at breakneck speeds.

Korra cried out as he slammed into her and her hold on the ice was broken, the thin bridge falling towards the ground where it would surely soon crash loud enough to make the entire street come running. She shoved Kuqui off her, ignoring his terrified blabbering that he thought he was going to die, and reached out her hands, managing to catch the bridge right before it hit the concrete. She rolled her fingers and wrists and the ice came apart and back to water, which she let splash to the ground. She sat back, breathing a deep sigh of relief, and grinning at the still ruffled Kuqui.

"You see?" she said smugly, "I told you I could do it."

Kuqui just shook his head in disbelief at the crazy Water Tribe girl

They got to the street level with a little less craziness, opting for just lowering themselves as much as they could by hanging off the outside of the balcony, then dropping the last small distance to the ground. Kuqui still didn't quite understand what Korra even wanted to _do_ in the rain, but she didn't give him a chance to ask, just grabbing his arm and dragging him around the corner where no one in their building would see them if someone happened to look out the window.

"Doesn't it feel amazing?" she asked, turning her face up to the rain and closing her eyes, little droplets of water sticking to her eyelashes like tears. They would be happy tears, Kuqui supposed, from the satisfied smile that played around Korra's mouth.

He shrugged, pulling his coat closer around his body as he shivered.

"I don't know," he admitted, "I've never really been a big fan, personally. It's just all…wet"

Korra scoffed a laugh, opening her eye in his direction. He realised what she was doing the moment she pulled her arm back, but had no time to react before a huge swell of rainwater rose up to drench him. He turned his face away, sputtering and, despite himself, laughing a little, as he tried to escape the hosing.

"No fair!" he cried, kicking a pathetic wave of water at her feet that got more water on himself than on her, "You can't use waterbending! That's cheating!"

"It's not cheating to use the advantages you have." She mocked, putting her hands on her hips. Kuqui pouted for a moment, and then suddenly dove at her in a tackle. He was bigger by quite a bit, and she let out a surprised squawk as they tumbled to the ground. In retaliation she hosed a heavy stream of water in his face, rolling away from him as his grip on her loosened. In minutes the children were shrieking in laughter, splashing each other in an all-out water fight that Korra may have had the advantage in.

Neither saw the man in black and red until Kuqui's scream filled the streets.

***0*0***

Senna paused in stirring the pot of seaweed noodles, cocking her head to the side.

"Did you hear something?"

Tonraq grunted that no, he had not, and continued frying the sea squid and crab in their strange new metal pan with intense concentration. He thought he was starting to get the hang of this new way of preparing food.

Senna abandoned her station, the clay ladle's handle slipping under the boiling water, and wandered towards the balcony windows to peer out, cupping her hands against the glare the indoor lights made on the glass. When Korra was not where she'd thought she had been, Senna frowned and pushed the door open. Almost immediately a scream tore through the streets, one from a small girl's throat and louder than the roaring of rain could ever be. Senna was at the edge of the balcony before she even registered that her legs had moved, looking up and down the street in desperation as she tried to spot her daughter through the rain.

"Korra!" she shouted, "Korra!"

Senna distantly heard a crash from inside as Tonraq knocked some pots to the ground, scattering their contents across the floor. She leaned out from the railing as far as she could without falling, screaming out her daughter's name as Tonraq came up beside her.

Through the sheets of rain she could see some men on the street outside, all wearing identical black clothing and red bandannas on their wrists. They were lined up in front of the building, spread out evenly and all facing towards the building with. As they settled into firebending stances, Senna realized what was going on. Her hands jerked out to the rainwater and bent it towards her with a yank, freezing a thick sheet of ice around her and her husband just as the entire building exploded up into flames.

***0*0***

Korra kneeled beside Kuqui's body, gripping his shoulders tightly and trembling all over as she screamed, the salty tears running down her face mixing with rainwater and making her eyes sting. She could barely recognize his face, replaced with a husk of angry red flesh streaked with the black of charcoal. A scent that was disturbingly like burned meat filled her nostrils and the sour taste of bile filled her mouth.

He was dead. Her first and only friend in Republic City was dead.

She felt a presence of heat and what was left of Kuqui's body was cast into sharp relief by the light of a fire, and she pushed away from him and rolled out of the flames' path before they could touch her. She bit back another scream as for an instant her hand was caught in the flames, the intense heat making her skin sting with almost blinding pain. She bit her lip and forced her way through the pain, her feet sliding into a basic waterbending stance as she tried desperately to remember her lessons.

Her attacker, a pale man with a ratty black mustache, smiled as he held out his palm, fire hovering over it like some sort of magical lantern from a story book. Korra scowled at him, reaching out to the rain and whipping it out. He easily stepped past it, the water snapping in empty air with a loud _CRACK. _

Laughing, the man curved his hands in sharp, sure movements, fire flying off his fingers in hot waves that left purple spots in Korra's vision. Desperately her arms flew out and, miraculously, a sheet of water appeared in time to absorb the attack, instantly turning to steam. She dove out of the way of his next attack, but her feet slipped out from under her and she landed hard into a puddle.

Another gruff laugh cut through the sound of rain and the sound of Korra's heavy breaths as she pushed herself onto all fours, her fingers curling in the water. As his footsteps came up behind her she spun, the water at her hands freezing into jagged shards, and flung them towards him. She fell back into the puddle as she heard his scream of surprise and pain.

He stumbled back, hands covering his face as he cursed. Korra flew to her feet and ran. Maybe if she could make it home in time her parents could come and help her. They were much better waterbenders then her and this guy wouldn't stand a chance against-

As she turned the corner, her entire building exploded up in flames, the fire flowing from the hands of a row of men lined up in a calculated formation. The rotting wood seemed to catch impossibly fast, the fire consuming everything in seconds as if ignoring the rain in the air. She could feel the heat coming off it all the way from the corner where she now stood, staring horrified. Her entire body seemed to tremble.

"Mom," she meant to scream, but instead whispered, "Dad."

The footsteps of the man in black and red, the one who'd killed Kuqui, made the grief and fear well up in her chest, and she spun around with a scream, gripping the rain from the air and turning with it, freezing them into large, thin, and nastily sharp spears that she flung in his direction with a loud cry.

She was running in the other direction before he was done turning the ice into steam, the tears and the rain blinding her as she tried to escape. They were gone, mom and dad and Kuqui and Ju Lin and the rest of the people who had lived in her building were _gone_, but she didn't want to be. The all-pressing urge to _live _consumed her, making her feet move faster until she could barely breathe.

Korra stumbled, her feet slipping out from under her, and crashed into the pavement hard, the stones on the street biting into her arms. Her feet scrambled desperately as she tried to stand, the water weighing her down from her clothing and her hair. Looking over her shoulder she saw the man standing over her, grinning and triumphant, and her eyes squeezed shut as he pulled his hand back.

There was a loud thud and a curse that seemed to cut off halfway, and the next thing Korra knew there was a pair of strong hands gripping her arms and hauling her to her feet. She screamed out, trying to kick away from the man, not sure why he wasn't killing her yet but sure that she wouldn't like whatever he was planning to do instead.

"Ow!" he exclaimed as one of her flailing legs connected with something, "Stop it! I'm trying to help you!"

Korra's eyes opened wide, and instead of seeing the cruel face of the rat-mustached man, she saw a pair of ice blue eyes set in a face of brown skin. She blinked in recognition.

"You're that man," she said, surprised, "From the market. You threw the water at the girly-boy."

The man snorted, placing her down when he was sure she wasn't going to continue attacking.

"Girly-boy," he muttered, "I'll have to remember that." He glanced over his shoulder, towards a place where Korra could still see the faint glow of a fire, "I'm Facian," he introduced quickly, grabbing her arm and beginning to lead her away from it, "And we've got to get out of here. Come on."

As they ran Korra kept her eyes stubbornly forward. Not because she was scared or that she thought another man in black and red might be chasing, but because she didn't want to see the column of smoke and flickering flames coming from where her parents were. And because she didn't look back, she didn't have to see the face of her attacker, dead and staring, a spear of ice jutting from his chest.

**AN: so, this story's going to be very rainy, just because geographically it would make sense for Republic City to get hit with a lot of relief precipitation, kind of like Vancouver. (takes off teacher hat)**


	4. The First Day

_**Dear people who think this took a long time to update: this chapter was supposed to be longer. This isn't even half of what it was. But I was going insane, so I'll just give you this for now.**_

**Five minutes after fire. **

The moment they were out of the rain Korra fell against the un-plastered wall, her lungs shaking and coughing as she gasped for air. A hard shiver rolled across her skin, and she pressed herself harder into the wood, the rough splinters digging into the skin of her arm as fat raindrops dripped from her and onto the ground with light _pat pat pats. _With a frustrated twist of her fingers she bent the water from her skin and hurled it deeper into the empty shell of the building, into the shadows that the orange glow of streetlamps seemed unable to penetrate. Distantly she heard the splash of the water against an unseen wall.

Facian was standing near the glassless window, panting lightly from their flight and not even bothering to bend his fancy light blue coat and hat dry. Korra pushed away from the wall, breath beginning to even out, and craned her neck up to try and see over the ledge and into the street.

"Did anyone follow us?" she whispered, barely heard above the drumming downpour. Facian silently shook his head, brushing a strand of soaking chestnut hair off his forehead.

"I don't think anyone else saw us at all, actually," his voice seemed to bounce off the walls in a harsh volume, although he did not shout, "We'll just wait here until the rain stops. The storm won't last much longer anyways."

Korra's eyes dragged closed, and she could feel what he meant. The moon was almost dark, and the rain had given her a burst of energy that she should have lacked normally. But now she could feel that energy slowing to a trickle, leaving her muscles aching with exhaustion and the fingertips of her right hand stinging sharply. She slid to the floor, her knee skimming across its surface, creating a single clean arch on the concrete floor as it swept away some of the dust.

Her eyes flickered up to Facian, then down again. Her right palm was tingling uncomfortably and she took a deep breath of the damp air.

"Do you—" she faltered when his icy gaze shifted over to her, "I mean…those people. The firebenders. You seemed to know who they were."

Korra held his gaze as Facian looked down at her. His chin was pointed, she noticed, protruding from his face almost comically.

"They were Agni Kais," he said softly after the pause had dragged on, "Nasty bunch. They don't like waterbenders much to begin with, and you insulted their leader in the market that day."

Korra stared at him, eyes blank as she processed his words. Don't like waterbenders? Her mother had said something about people who didn't like waterbenders, just a few short weeks ago.

_But there are some bad people here who would want to hurt you if they ever discovered what you could do. It's not safe to waterbend…_

If that was what the people in Republic City did to waterbenders, than she couldn't help but wonder what they would do to the Avatar. Korra's throat suddenly felt thick.

"I—" Korra scowled when her word came out tight, like someone about to cry, "Well, he deserved it anyways." She muttered, ducking her head to hide the shine of her eyes. She clenched her fists hard to stop them from trembling, but as she did her right hand suddenly exploded in agony, the sting shooting up her arm and making her cry out. Facian's hands shot up at her shout, whipped around towards the window for any sign of an Agni Kai as Korra fell to her knees. She clutched at her wrist as she tried to stifle her own cries on her bottom lip. The sweet tang of blood filled her mouth.

Her hand wore a glove of bright red, glossy skin, small white blisters beginning to rise. A burn, one that reached the lowest joint of her thumb and laced out from there in sickening, twisted branches, the longest of which reaching halfway to her elbow. Korra distantly remembered her hand getting caught in the firebender's attack, but her blood had been full of adrenalin then, blinding her to the pain as all she could think of was _escape_.

Facian quickly realized the trouble was not an attack but an injury and quickly stepped forward, his hands hovering uselessly as his eyes kept darting from Korra's pained expression to the trembling hand.

"Do you know how to heal?" he finally asked, crouching to her level, "It's a pretty bad burn."

"I can feel that, I _know_," Korra snapped, turning her head away from him and wiping her eyes furiously on her shoulder as she tried to make her voice less high-pitched, "And no, I can't heal. Mama said she would teach me when I was older, but…" her voice trailed off, fingers of her burned hand twitching painfully, "But now—but now she's gone. Her and dad," Korra's head bowed low, her hair shadowing her face, "What's going to happen to me now?"

Drops fell from behind her curtain of dark hair, hitting the ground with faint _pat pat pats._

Facian stared at her for a long moment, his eyes tight in bereavement. She didn't see him reach towards the collar of his coat and lightly touch a pendant that hung from around his neck, a tarnished silver ring about the size of a walnut.

"Say…" he murmured, "Have you ever heard of the Red Monsoons?"

Korra hadn't.

**Half an hour after fire**

Ziyu flipped through the pages on her clipboard, the names listed on it beginning to blur as her eyelids drooped lower and lower. Where was Guo? That miserable excuse for a healer had been supposed to take over her shift _hours _ago. But she supposed that it didn't matter; with the sudden influx of patients that were coming in she probably would have had to stay late anyways. She watched a man, one with terrible burns and a leg that had been crushed by a falling beam, being carried in on a stretcher made from stone, an earthbender worker swiftly bending him through the doors as they rushed him to a free healer.

"Kuqui," she heard him moan as he was carried past, "Where's Kuqui? We have to go find him-"

"Shhhhh," the earthbender soothed, "I'm sure we'll be able to find Kuqui soon. Don't worry about it."

Ziyu slumped her shoulders, turning her sheet over and marking down the name 'Kuqui' as a possible identity for the faceless, burnt body that had been found around the corner from the building fire. She glanced up and for an instant met the teary green eyes of the man, just before he disappeared through the door. Ziyu sighed and looked away, raising up her chin as the next group of people were brought in. She could not allow the tragedy she met affect her. The hospital was a wonderful place, where many lives were saved every day, and _that _was why she worked there. But she still flinched when a Water Tribe woman was brought in, her arm so severely burned that Ziyu thought she saw a white flash of bone. She was brought into the operation room, no doubt for an amputation.

"Hey, Zi!"

Ziyu turned her head just in time to catch a clipboard hurtling through the air towards her. It, along with the papers tightly clipped to it, nearly slipped through her fingers and dropped to the floor, but she managed to get a grip after grappling with it for a moment. She glared up at Culoe's smug grin. Couldn't he just _hand_ her the thing?

"Is this everyone?" she asked, glancing over the names he had just given her. Her eyebrows rose when she saw how long the list was. Considering the relatively small size of the building and the severity of the fire, she'd thought there'd be fewer injuries and more fatalities.

"Ya," he said, leaning against the wall next to her, his eyes following stretcher after stretcher as it passed, "Just talked to the owner of the place. He said that if he was stupid enough to keep his building made of wood on Agni Kai turf then he sure as hell wasn't stupid enough to do it without having a fire escape built in. Plus there was apparently a Waterbending couple who helped people out of the place. Woman got some pretty bad burns; man inhaled enough smoke that it should have killed him. But both the little savages are still kicking."

Ziyu gave Culoe a sharp look over the top of her clipboard.

"My _grandmother _was Water Tribe, Culoe. Do _not _call them 'savages'" she snapped, and her shoulders clenched as she spun on her heel and made her way to her desk in order to register in all the names. She heard Culoe snort, muttering 'sensitive little-' before the bustle of the emergency room drowned him out.

Not long after that another patient was brought through, just as sooty and burnt as the rest of them, the dark tan of Water Tribe showing through the black. She sat up a little straighter in her seat, trying to get a better look at him and wondering if he was the one that Culoe said had been helping the other occupants of the building escape. She blinked, her lips parting in a gasp when she saw that he was _fighting_ against the healers to try and get up off of the stretcher. It was taking six of them to keep him there.

"Sir, you need to lie down. You've inhaled a lot of smoke and-"

"Korra!" he interrupted, his voice raspy and dry, "I have to go back for Korra!"

"I'm sure we'll be able to find Korra soon, sir. Don't worry about it."

"NO!" he cried out, pushing the healer away with a surprising amount of strength. The worker stumbled back, inhaling sharply as the man towed himself right off of the stretcher, attempting to get to his feet. Immediately his knees buckled, and he was soon curled on the floor, violent coughs wracking his body. The healers began to pick him up, met with much less resistance this time.

"You don't understand," he croaked, "We have to find Korra. We _have _to."

Ziyu turned back to her page listing the possible identities for the body and, noting that it was a male that had been killed and Korra was a decidedly female name, wrote it under a column that read 'possible missing persons'.

She glanced up again at the man, the one that (if Culoe's information could be trusted) was something of a hero. Her stomach twisted in sympathy, and although she wasn't supposed to let herself get attached to any patients, she hoped beyond hope that Korra was safe.

**Five hours after fire**

"Facian, you shouldn't have brought her here. This is no place for a child." Korra heard a voice whisper, somewhere further than an ocean away. She sleepily turned her head, burying her face into something solid yet soft like silk, her eyes squeezing tightly together as she tried to block out the noise.

"I'm sorry, Renya. But there's nowhere else I can put her. Just please keep her here for the night. I'll work something out with Yakuna tomorrow. She'll be out of your hair by then."

"Yakuna? But that would mean…" the voice trailed off, a terrible realization filling the silence, "Oh, Facian," the words were sad, regretful, "What kind of life are you condemning this girl to?"

Korra's head lolled as she was held out, passed off to a new set of arms, these ones thinner and leading to a softer body.

"The only one I can."

**Ten hours after fire**

Ranshao didn't even look up from his papers when the door to his office flew open, slamming into the wall and undoubtedly leaving a dent. The yucca fern in the corner trembled, the ceramic pot threatening to fall from its shelf. He suppressed a sigh. It was too early for this.

"What the hell are you doing, Ran?" the woman standing in his doorway growled, stalking towards him and slamming her hands down on the desk. Sparks flew from her fingers, threatening to ignite his work, and with a sigh he finally put down his pen, meeting her amber eyes.

"I'm doing what I always do, Iren," he said drily, raising an eyebrow at her. Her ears flushed an angry red, her lips pulling back into a snarl, "I'm keeping up the family business."

Iren pulled back from his desk, pencil-thin eyebrows shooting up in disbelief.

"_By blowing up buildings_? I knew the owner of that place, Ranshao, and I know for a fact that he always paid for the Agni Kais' _protection_. People aren't going to feel safe, not even when they _do_ give you the money you ask for. This could cause a panic! What made you think that this was a good idea?"

Ranshao rolled his eyes, taking up his pen again. He responded before Iren could start throwing fireballs around his office.

"He had a waterbender tenant who greatly offended me," he could feel her tense up even more in outrage, and his lip twitched into a smirk for a fraction of a second, "I didn't realize you were still so well informed about the family business, Iren. I thought you'd cut your ties with the Triad when you met that _earth _boy. What was his name? Bao? And I seem to remember someone mentioning to me that you have two healthy little boys now, and that the eldest can bend fire. That must be nice. You know by family tradition he's the new heir to the title of 'Dragon Master'? Maybe one day _he _will be sitting in this seat."

"You will leave my family out of this, Ran," Iren snapped, another shower of sparks bursting from her knuckles. Ranshao's mouth curled into a small smile at the flare of light, "And the reason I know about your _activities,_" She growled, "is because they're _in all the papers_. They've been there for months! You're not even trying to hide the things that the Triad's doing from the public eye anymore!"

Ranshao placed his pen gently back on the desk.

"It is not your business to worry about how the Agni Kais chose to act-"

"_Excuse me?_ It has _always_ been my business-"

"IT STOPPED BEING YOUR BUISNESS THE MOMENT YOU LEFT US FOR THAT _EARTH PEASANT_," he bellowed, his hands exploding into flames as he shot up from his seat. Iren took a step back, her eyes widening in surprise at his outburst, before she quickly steeled herself and hardened her jaw.

Ranshao's head snapped to the side, a red mark left on his cheek where her open palm had struck him. The fire gently snuffed out.

"It will be my business as long as our blood ties us together, little brother," she said darkly, eyes glaring like hot coals, "And no matter how much I hate you sometimes, I don't want to see you have to rot in jail." She turned smartly on her heel, striding towards the door with her head held high, "Be careful what you do, _boy_," she called over her shoulder, "I've got a feeling your lack of caring about who you effect is going to come back and haunt you." The door slammed behind her.

Ranshao counted a full twenty breaths before turning and kicking his chair with all his might, sending it careening across the room and crashing into the wall. The yucca fern's pot shattered on the floor.

**Twelve hours after fire**

Korra couldn't stop staring at her over the Renya's shoulder. Ennai's long hair had been swept up into a tight bun at the back of her head, several black curls sticking to her damp forehead, which was creased in concentration. Pans were laid out in front of her, each holding heaping amounts of steaming food, vegetables and meat sizzling louder and louder as fire burst from her fingers to increase the heat of the firebending-powered stove. When she flicked a small flame at a pan filled with sauce, causing it to burst up into a small inferno for a slit second, Korra jumped violently.

"Would you _hold still_," Renya snapped, pulling away the healing water that encased Korra's hand to glare at her. Korra shrunk under the icy blue gaze as Renya threw down the water into the bowl so violently that it splashed back up and splattered them all, "You'll be lucky enough if this burn heals with just a scar to remember it by, but if you keep squirming _it'll only get worse,_"

Korra swallowed heavily and nodded, but still jumped slightly when Ennai let out another burst of flame under a pot of boiling water. Renya groaned angrily, reaching out to grab Korra's forearm above the burn, trying to hold her steady, "And stop looking at Ennai like she's about to turn and attack you! She's the most useless firebender I've ever met!"

Ennai laughed from the stove.

"That isn't what you say every morning at breakfast and every night at dinner, Renya." She sang, flicking a small spark playfully over her shoulder. Korra jumped back again, and Renya rolled her eyes, hand dropping from her arm.

"Okay, that's it. If you can't deal with a little firebending then I'm taking you out of the kitchen," Renya said, standing up off the grey tile floor and swiping the knees of her scarlet dress clean. She bent over to pick up the bowl of water and turned and walked through the swinging kitchen doors without a single look back. Korra glanced one last time at Ennai, who had her tongue pocking out through her teeth as she kept her attention on the food, before sprinting out of the kitchen after Renya.

Korra had woken up there that morning, on a futon in a corner of the kitchen with a worn sheet pulled up over her shoulders. Renya had been sitting nearby, waiting for her to wake up, telling her that she was at a place called 'Moon Flower' and explaining to her that Facian had left her there last night while he went to arrange for a place for her to stay. She gave Korra a large, dark blue-purple shirt to wear over her own pants as if it was a dress and a fat black sash to hold it closed. She'd aided Korra in getting dressed, gently pulling the short fabric of the sleeve over her burned hand without touching the skin, and then immediately began to heal her. Ennai hadn't come in to cook until much later.

As Korra walked through the brown water-stained halls, close behind Renya, more women passed her, all with red nails, scant clothing, their faces painted heavily, and apparently just getting home. They barely spared Korra a glance. There seemed to be all nations of women here, eyes of all colours and skin ranging from the pale almost-white of the Fire Nation to the deep brown of her own skin. But they were all beautiful, slender, and young. Renya herself seemed to be the eldest, the silver of age beginning to weave its way into the long braid she wore down her back, but was no less beautiful than the others (if not wearing a little more paint on her face).

They stopped at the first door they came to, Renya gently knocking on the wood to see if there was anyone in there, and when she was satisfied that there was not opened it silently and motioned for Korra to enter with a jerk of her head.

Inside was a simple setup, consisting of only a bed covered in a large variety of blankets and zhentous (or pillows, as Korra remembered Ju Lin had called them). Renya quickly led Korra to the farthest corner from the bed and sat her down.

"Now," she said sternly, raising her over-plucked eyebrows, "I am going to heal that hand. And _you_ are not going to move until I'm positive it's healed."

Korra didn't know why, but for some reason the idea of healing was suddenly terrifying.

**Twelve hours and five minutes after fire.**

"She's a remarkable waterbender for her age. Not to mention she already has a healthy dislike for the Agni Kais. You should have seen it, Yakuna, she water-whipped _Ranshao _of all people. And when the Agni Kais came to pay her back for her disrespect, she was able to competently fight of one of their thugs. She probably would have gotten away without me intervening if she hadn't tripped while running away."

"And you think that this girl will be worth enough?"

"I do, yes. She's a perfect candidate for the Red Monsoons, and is full of raw talent, just waiting to be trained."

"Very well then, Facian. I'll take your word for it. We'll make her a Blue Lantern first. When she graduates to Red Knife then I'll knock some yuans off of your debt. Maybe more, depending on how useful she turns out to be."

"Thank you, Yakuna."

**Twelve and a half hours after fire.**

Women continued to pour in during breakfast, their feet dragging and their eyelids drooping heavily, looking like they wanted nothing more than to collapse onto the first available bed they found. And yet even the most dishevelled ones, with mussed hair and makeup that ran down their faces with the distinct look of being caught in the rain, stopped to grab bowlfuls of food.

"Thanks Ennai," a girl with green Earth Kingdom eyes sighed as she took a bowl full of rice, a twisted, deep-fried breakfast pastry sitting on top, "You really outdid yourself today."

Ennai grinned, giving a one shoulder-shrug.

"I figured, with the rain, it was an even harder night for everyone."

Korra was half-listening to Ennai's conversations with the other girls, poking at her food half-heartedly with her chopsticks. It was delicious, with tender vegetables and meat and a sweet sauce that practically made her toes curl in pleasure, and she _was_ starving, but she couldn't seem to get herself to eat more than a few nibbles. She looked over her shoulder, seeing Ennai spooning another helping out, but when Korra looked at her face all she could see was a building on fire, her parents still inside. Her grip tightened around her chopsticks as she looked down again.

"Stop that," Renya snapped, slapping at Korra's hand lightly to make her loosen her fingers, "You'll break them."

Korra nodded weakly and placed the eating utensils down altogether, bowing her head awkwardly as the tired buzz of conversation flowed around her. Slowly the trickle of women entering the dining room eased, until one last straggler was accepting a bowl of rice and scampering down the long table to find a free space. With a tired smile, Ennai scraped the last bit of food off the bottom of the pot, grabbed a pastry, and made her way towards them. Korra, realizing that there was a free seat next to her, glanced down the long room at the door, trying to figure out how slow she would have to walk to get there without seeming scared.

Ennai placed her bowl in the spot next to Korra's before Korra could move, kneeling on the ground and taking up her chopsticks to dig in. Her eyes fell on Korra's barely touched food as she raised a clump of rice to her lips, and the chopsticks wavered for a moment in the air. The rice fell back into the bowl, unnoticed. Korra glanced up, only meeting Ennai's brown eyes for a moment before looking away again.

"Don't you like it?" Ennai asked, her voice sounding genuinely hurt. Korra quickly nodded, though she didn't look up.

"Uh-huh," she muttered, "It's really tasty." The chopsticks remained untouched next to her hand.

"Oh—okay then."

The silence seemed to stretch on for hours, and Korra took to twirling her thumbs as the people around her ate. She couldn't be more aware of every move Ennai made, every twitch and hand gesture making her shoulders stiffen up and her fingers tighten. If anyone noticed that the water in their glass was churning on its own, they didn't say anything.

"How's your hand doing?"

Korra's head whipped toward Renya's voice. The woman didn't look away from her bowl as she ate, and if the words hadn't been so clear Korra would have doubted she'd heard anything at all.

"Oh, It's okay," she said quietly, stretching out her hand in front of her and flexing her fingers. The skin was faintly pink and a little wrinkled, although it still felt like normal skin to her. It had retained the sense of touch, same as her unburned left hand, even though it had spent so long unhealed. A miracle, Renya had said.

Ennai leaned over the table to look around Korra at Renya, her full upper lip jutting out as she pursed her lips.

"Don't you think you should have healed it earlier, right when Korra arrived?" She asked, the harsh cut of her cheekbone casting a shadow in the hollow of her cheek as she tilted her head, "It might not have even scarred then."

Renya scoffed, popping a piece of meat in her mouth and speaking around it.

"You don't get to coach me on anything until you're at least twenty. And even then, _never_ about healing." She clicked her chopsticks threateningly in Ennai's direction, "I didn't heal her earlier because I don't heal people who can't give me consent. Apparently some find my 'Water Savage magic' disagreeable. I had a bad experience with it."

"Renya, _she's _Water Tribe. How could she possibly have a problem—"

"I like the scar," Korra interrupted quietly, flexing her marked hand. Both Ennai and Renya looked over at her in surprise at her words. Korra just shrugged, "I don't want to forget what happened," she said a little louder, raising her chin, "This will remind me."

"Oh, hon," Ennai said sadly, "You're much too young to want something like that." She reached out a pale hand to place Korra's shoulder, but Korra lurched away, her arms curling into her chest defensively. Pulling back, Ennai frowned at the young girl.

"Are you—afraid of me?" she asked in disbelief, placing the rejected hand on her lap. Korra's head jerked up so she could glare at the brown-eyed girl. Ennai met her glare head on, jutting her chin out angrily.

"I'm not _afraid_ of anyone!" Korra snapped, folding her arms in front of her, "I just don't like you, all right?" Ennai threw her hands up in the air, sparks beginning to crackle at her fingertips.

"Why not? You _just_ met me!"

"Ennai," Renya said quietly, her chopsticks hovering over her bowl, "She was brought _here_, of all places, in the middle of the night with a badly burnt hand. Why do you _think_ she doesn't like you?"

Ennai's arms fell heavily onto the table, the loud _thump _and the sound of rattling dishes turning heads.

"But that's not fair!" she snapped, "I've never used my firebending to hurt _anyone_. If I was a waterbending murderer, would I be a better person? Just because I couldn't firebend?"

"Ennai." Renya's voice was hard, a warning for her to stop.

"NO!" Ennai snapped, pushing back from the table and getting to her feet, "I will not be judged as evil just because I can bend fire!" she jabbed a finger in Korra's direction, a small lick of flame jumping from its tip in her agitation, "The type of bending doesn't decide who's good or bad, kid. The sooner you figure that out, the better."

And with that the brown-eyed girl stormed out, her breakfast left untouched on the table.

**Fourteen hours after fire****.**

The building that Facian brought Korra to was a low warehouse, set close to the Bay. From the outside it looked like a storage building for cargo just arrived off the pier that was an inconvenient distance away from the water, except there was a barbed wire fence circling the property and a big sign posted on the door that read 'Danger. No Trespassing.'

Facian ducked through a small, nearly invisible gap in the fence, jogging across the concrete lawn to the front door. Korra hesitated for a moment, glancing down the deserted street, before ducking under as well, the slightly rusting wire scraping against her clothing. She stepped beside Facian just as he finished knocking a complicated pattern into the heavy wooden door, knuckles rapping hard against 'Danger'.

They stood there silently for a moment, and Korra was about to ask if something was supposed to happen when the bright red letters of 'Trespassing' slid aside, a hidden panel, and a pair of slanted blue eyes peered out at them. They narrowed as they focused on Facian, barely flickering to Korra.

"Wha da you want," the person on the other side snapped, the voice plainly that of a young boy. Facian reached into his pocket and pulled out a long leather cord, a necklace, with a blue square pendant hanging off the end. The eyebrows above the pair of eyes shot up, and took a longer look at Korra.

"Oh, I see. Isn't she a little young, though?"

Korra pouted, kicking the door and making it rattle with a loud 'boom'.

"I'm plenty old enough," she growled, "I wanna join the Red Monsoons!" The blue eyes rolled at her, and with a _snap_ 'Trespassing' flicked back into place. A moment later there were the rattles and clicks of unlocking bolts and the door slowly opened to reveal a boy of about twelve, Water Tribe in appearance, when one looked past the dirt to his brown skin and his messy but straight dark brown hair. His nose was heavily crooked, looking as if it had been broken at least once, and the same blue pendant that was clutched in Facian's hand was also hanging from around his neck.

"She can come in," the boy said to Facian coolly, "But you'll have to leave. Blue Lanterns only."

Korra's lips parted, a small crease between her eyes appearing. She'd never considered that she and Facian could be separated. Facian nodded in understanding.

"I have to work today anyways," he reached out the hand holding the necklace, offering it to Korra. She took it hesitantly, and she noticed that the pendant was just blue painted wood, cheap and probably homemade. Facian looked back at the boy, "She'll be able to start her training immediately."

The boy snorted a laugh, waving a hand that plainly said 'of course'. Facian nodded and then, with a tip of his hat in Korra's direction that reminded her of Ju Lin for some reason, turned and started towards the hole in the barbed wire fence with his hands in his pockets.

Korra felt a weight on her arm, and she looked down to see a hand gripping her forearm, the boy gently pulling towards the open door.

"Come on," he said quietly, his eyes glancing towards the street in plain view, "It's not good to stand out here too long."

"Right," Korra said with a nod, "I guess it wouldn't be." With one last glance at Facian's retreating figure, she followed the boy through the thick door, and he slid it shut silently, clicking the rows upon rows of heavy locks into place with fast, practiced movements. The light inside was dim, only lit by several poor electric lights, but not so dim that Korra couldn't see that the warehouse was a single large room full of blankets lined up like a healing hut full of beds. There were At least four dozen children sitting on top them, asleep or talking quietly among themselves. Most were about ten to fourteen, and several bored eyes turned towards Korra for a moment in curiosity, but when they spotted the necklace clutched in her hands they quickly turned back to whatever they had been doing.

"Alright," the boy said enthusiastically as he clapped his hands together, wearing a grin that revealed badly crooked teeth, "Welcome, rookie, to the domain of the Blue Lanterns."


	5. Blue Lantern

**One day after fire.**

Early that evening, when the sun had just dipped below the horizon and the faint light of dusk was still visible in the west, the boy told Korra that it was time to start her training. He, along with several other of the young 'Blue Lanterns' with square pendants swinging from around their necks, lead her away from Yue bay. They walked along the bank of a river, one that cut straight through Republic City and flowed from somewhere in the mountains, until Korra's calves were tense from too many steps and her bare feet were sore with blisters. Eventually they stopped at a grassy lot, bordered by the river and three tall stone buildings. The boy with the crooked nose, Kanshu, turned to her with a wide smile.

"Sorry about this," he said, although his eyes were lit up with excitement. Korra couldn't get a 'what?' out before a water whip snapped out from behind her and struck her on the arm. She cried out, whirling around just in time to see the other Blue Lanterns before a barrage of ice crystals slammed into her, brittle and soft and harsh. She threw her arms up to shield her face, her arms moving to bend the ice away, but as she turned away Kanshu's fist slammed into her face, making her stumble closer to the attacking waterbenders.

"What the hell are you doing!" she screamed, bending a random handful of water and hurling it at a girl with tight braids running across her scalp. The girl gasped as a shard grazed her cheek, cutting open a long, thin scratch.

"This," Kanshu said with laughter in his voice as he bent a sloppy splash of water in her direction, "Is how we train new recruits."

A hand grabbed Korra's wolftail, jerking her backwards.

**Two days after fire.**

Senna woke to a groggy mind and a face swimming in her vision. It was the familiar face of her husband, his eyes sporting bruise-like spots under them and his mouth turned up in the smallest smile of relief. She reached out her right hand towards him, trying to see if he was truly there or if it was another delirious dream. A stump that ended at her elbow was all that reached out.

He was to tell her that her arm had been amputated.

He was to tell her that their daughter was missing.

He was to tell her that their daughter was presumed dead.

Tonraq squeezed her left hand, her only hand, tightly as he said to her in a broken whisper that if Korra really is dead, they'd know soon enough. Because didn't the White Lotus and the Fire Sages have some way of telling when the Avatar died?

**One week after fire.**

It had seemed like Korra had been in the rank of 'Blue Lantern' longer than seven days. The other kids no longer brought her to the grassy lot, she wouldn't let them, but they still ganged up on her every night, pulling her from the greyish blanket she slept on and hitting her, pulling her hair and cutting her skin with cruelly sharp ice, until she fought back. She'd taken to sleeping in the day so she could stay on her guard at night, a practice that seemed common in the lowest branch of the Red Monsoons that she was now a part of. Facian had visited her earlier that week.

"They do it to toughen you up," he had explained to her when she asked, "The Agni Kais won't be nearly as gentle when you fight them. One day you'll be thankful for it."

But nursing countless cuts and a black eye, she wasn't feeling particularly thankful. She raised her right hand, staring at the scar that gloved it. It was why she was here. She wanted to fight against the Agni Kais someday, and the only way she could see that would allow her to do that was to be a Red Monsoon.

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend," she repeated to herself in a quiet mantra, trying to convince herself that it was true.

**Three months after fire.**

Their daughter wasn't in any of the city's orphanages. It didn't seem like she was sleeping in any parks. No one they talked to had seen her.

But it was a big city. And Korra was just one girl.

One infinitely important girl.

**Four Months after fire****.**

A drop of sweat rolled down Korra's back, the blue cotton shirt sticking to her like a second skin. She groaned as she paused next to the fountain at the center of the market, leaning against the cool stone as she wiped her forehead for the millionth time that day. Of course they made _her_ run numbers in the hottest month of the year, the sun shining hot at the highest point in the sky and making the dark pavement of Republic City's streets burn the bare soles of her feet.

The Red Monsoons ran a sort of private lottery with the rich people in Republic City, and Blue Lanterns were always sent from home to home collecting numbers to bring back to headquarters. It was easy, boring work that required walking for hours upon hours non-stop, so the unpleasant job was always given to the lowest rank of the low. Newbie Blue Lanterns. Oftentimes Korra had to run numbers every day for weeks in a row, and her feet had quickly hardened with callouses.

Korra stretched out her hands, submersing them in the cool, clean water of the fountain. She sighed contently, leaning over to splash some of the water in her face.

"Korra?"

She yelped in surprise when someone called out her name, whirling around with fists up in case it was Kanshu, there to scold her for wasting time splashing around. Instead she met a familiar, beautiful face, one with curling black hair and brown eyes rimmed in thick, long lashes. She wasn't wearing her scant red dress, instead a much more practical brown shirt over grey pants, and her face wasn't painted, but she was still unmistakeable.

"Ennai," Korra said coolly, crossing her arms in front of her as she turned her head away from the firebender. Ennai frowned, her eyebrow twitching in agitation.

"What happened to you?" she asked, switching the basket of food she had to the other hand, "You look like you took a beating. And like you haven't eaten in ages."

"I'm fine," Korra said simply, ignoring the painful pit in her stomach as her eyes drifted over the food Ennai seemed to have purchased. Sitting on top of the pile were moon peaches, looking ripe and fresh. She swallowed heavily. The Blue Lanterns got a delivery of food every day from some Red Knives, but it was never enough for everyone and Korra always ended up getting next to nothing or less. Ennai didn't seem to notice her hungry gaze, instead pointing a long, thin finger at her Blue Lantern pendant.

"Is that…" she began to ask, and then trailed off, shaking her head sadly, "Oh, well of course it is. You went and joined the Red Monsoons, didn't you?"

Korra didn't answer. She just kept her eyes on the moon peaches, wishing the firebender would go away with her basket of food and voice full of judgement. Ennai sighed, offering her hand for Korra to take. She looked up in confusion.

"Come on," she said, jerking her head away from the fountain, "I'm taking you back to the Moon Flower. Renya can clean you up and maybe you could get in a decent meal."

Korra's hand fell on the bag at her hip, the half-collected numbers that she should have been finishing. She almost told Ennai 'no'.

But then she saw the moon peaches again and her stomach twisted in hunger. Glancing at the sun, shining from the highest peak in the sky, she guessed that she had three hours left to finish. She could run the rest of the numbers _and_ stop at the Moon Flower if she hurried.

Korra ignored the offered hand, but nodded and took a step towards Ennai to show that she would follow her. The firebender smiled kindly.

**Six months after fire **

There was a rumor going around the Red Monsoons. A whisper, quiet at first, starting somewhere among the rank above the Blue Lanterns, the Red Knives. The soldiers. But it gained volume, until there wasn't a soul wearing a rank pendant that didn't hear it. The rumor was that the young Avatar was in Republic City.

As Korra watched the other members rant and rave about the Avatar, about how Avatar Aang had taken away their leader's bending years ago and almost ruined the Red Monsoons, and about how they needed to stamp out the new Avatar before he, whoever he was, got too powerful and tried to tear down the Triad like his predecessor had. She had to remind herself, as one Blue Lantern described what she would do to the Avatar if she ever got her hands on him, that the rumor was just a lucky guess, and that there was no way for them to know that _Korra_ was the one they were looking for.

She snuck out to the Moon Flower early that next morning for the first time since Ennai had brought her there. At least in that place the girls were all kind to her and no one hated the Avatar.

When she knocked on the door it was answered by Ennai. She took one look at Korra and, without saying a word, stepped aside to let her in. Minutes later Korra was eating from a bowl of soup warmed by a firebender's hands and sitting in a companionable silence with the girls who lived there. Slowly she felt herself relax. Here she was safe.

**One year after fire**

Senna cried on the one year anniversary. Tonraq had suggested that the legal system wasn't working, and maybe they should try something less legal. Senna gave him a look that said quite clearly that he should already know why the answer to that was no.

**One year three months after fire**

Ranshao didn't speak at first when they gave him the news. He just stood up and walked calmly up to his window, looking out into the gloom of night. It was overcast, he noticed, with just the barest hints of mist hanging around the streetlamps in golden halos.

"How?" he asked quietly. The smallest man in the group took off his hat, bowing his head sadly.

"Their house collapsed," he said with as little harshness as possible to his voice, "The man we sent over said it looked like the work of an earthbender. She and her husband were buried inside, and they're confirmed dead. Suffocation."

Ranshao turned his head towards the men, his eyes eerily blank.

"And her sons?" he asked at last, "What of my nephews?"

"Both survived. We sent Zolan to follow them. We just got word that they're spending the night in the park, under a bridge."

Ranshao was silent, turning back towards the window. A woman stood on the corner of the street, the glowing mist hovering around her and making her look like some ethereal being. Her hair was very long and dark, and even from the distance he could see that it shined. He wondered if the woman's eyes were amber as well. If they were anything like Iren's.

"Bring the eldest to me," Ranshao whispered, "The firebender. He is family, after all. He'll be my business as long as our blood ties us together."

**One year three months and two days**

Korra crouched down low, keeping her eyes on the heavy purse at the man's hip as he paused to watch some waterbending children perform. Her target.

_This is what Blue Lanterns do, Korra._

They're bending was mediocre at best, but they were young and they were cute, so the man reached into his purse to throw them a shiny golden yuan. Korra tensed to run.

_We do the things the real Red Monsoons don't want to. The boring things. The petty things._

Just as his hand retracted, the coin gripped between his fingers, she darted out, a knife made from ice flashing.

_But in order to go anywhere, you have to first prove your loyalty to the Triad, to the family, and then they'll always protect you. You want to be a part of this family, don't you Korra?_

He cried out as she cut his purse loose and grabbed it, running back into the crowd cradling it to her chest as she sprinted.

_Don't you?_

**One year three months and four days after fire**

Mako cussed loudly as someone shoved him into the room. A flash of fire burst from his foot as he turned and kicked at them, only for it to hit the door as it slammed shut, a loud _click_ of a lock reverberating through the wood. He threw himself at it, shouting for them to let him out as he pounded on cold, smooth surface with flaming fists, leaving black scorch marks.

"Are you Iren's son?"

The name of Mako's mother made him freeze, one arm still pulled back to slam into the door. He spun around to face whoever had spoken, fists still raised, and found himself not in the dusty cell he'd figured the people in the suits were going to throw him into, but in a fancy office lined with bookshelves. A man with neatly gelled back hair and pouty lips leaned back on the heavy wooden desk casually, the gold cufflinks flashing from the scarlet sleeve of his shirt. Mako narrowed his eyes at the man.

"Depends who's asking," he said slowly. The man's lips pulled into a wide grin as he placed a hand on his heart, as if offended.

"Didn't Iren ever tell you about your dear old uncle?" He asked, fluttering his eyelashes. Mako's fists clenched, scowling at the man.

"No," he said coldly, "She told us about her slippery little rat brother Ranshao." His eyes slid from the man's smirking face to slowly trace around the room, finally settling on the golden symbol of a dragon that was inlaid into the wood above the window, "I'm in the headquarters of the Agni Kais, aren't I?"

Ranshao snorted a laugh, pushing away from the desk.

"Well, you can't say Iren ever left her boys unprepared," his smile faltered for a moment, "Except she did just that, didn't she?" Ranshao said softly, "Where is it you and your brother have been staying for the last couple of nights? Under bridges? In the sewers? Wouldn't it be nicer to have a home that was truly yours?"

"I'm not joining the Agni Kais."

"I never said—" Ranshao caught the glare that Mako was giving him and chuckled, raising his hands palms out, "Alright, alright, you caught me. How much did Iren tell you?"

"Enough for me to know that I'm not joining the Agni Kais."

Ranshao took a step towards the boy, but stopped when Mako's fists began to smoke. His eyes were so much like Iren's, he noticed, the amber sparking in anger. The corner of his mouth pulled up into a rueful smirk.

"But I could help you out," Ranshao argued, "We're family, after all. If you just joined us, then I could give you an apartment to live in with your brother. It would be like working for the Agni Kais to pay for the rent—"

"—and then as soon as I'm old enough you'll shove me into that chair and make me take over," Mako snapped, jabbing a finger towards the wingback chair sitting behind the desk, "No. I don't think so. Bolin and I will take our chances with the sewers."

Ranshao almost laughed. This boy couldn't be more than nine years old, and yet it seemed that Iren had already taught him the complexities of the Agni Kai's family. It was smart of her, he supposed. The life of a former Agni Kai, especially one as high up as her, was constantly dangerous. Death had always been a leering possibility for her, and she would have to keep her children prepared. But apparently not prepared enough to keep them out of the sewers. Ranshao raised his chin, looking down at Mako with a small smile.

"Very well, if that is your decision. You're free to go."

Mako's eyebrows snapped together. He looked at Ranshao from the corner of his eye, trying to gage what kind of game he was playing.

"Just like that?" He asked suspiciously, "You're not going to send some thugs after for _persuasion_?"

Ranshao chuckled, running a hand over his already-smooth hair.

"I don't think any of my men would hurt a firebender of our family if I asked them to," he grinned at Mako, eyes flashing cruelly, "Although," he continued, "the earth boy, Bolin. Now _that's _a different situation, with his _unfortunate _bending form_._ It's just too bad what genetics do sometimes."

Mako's eyes widened, his throat tightening painfully. Bolin. His little brother, from whom they'd torn him from just that morning, even as Mako screamed for them to let him go. His helpless, innocent little brother that was alone right now, probably afraid that Mako was never coming back. The only person in the world that he could trust.

"You can't—" Mako's voice came out higher than usual, and he swallowed hard, "but Bolin is just as much your nephew as I am!" Ranshao shrugged, crossing his thin arms in front of his chest.

"I have no attachment to earthbenders," he said simply, one of his eyebrows rising at the look of horror on Mako's face, "But evidently you do. So what do you say? Do you really think you can find your little brother again before one of my men do?"

The tears stung Mako's eyes, his teeth clenching hard enough to hurt.

_I didn't want this._

"Fine," Mako said quietly, "I'll join your stupid Triad."

**One year six months after fire.**

Korra was wrapped in her blanket, curling the edges tighter around her shoulder as another draft stirred the hair around her face. The roar of rain on the roof of the warehouse was deafening, and the water seemed to seep through the walls and fill the air with a damp chill.

"Hey, Korra!"

She turned her head slightly, spotting Kanshu waving at her from the side of the only fire in the warehouse, other Blue Lanterns huddling closely around it. When they made eye contact Kanshu grinned widely, jerking his head towards the fire.

"Come on!" he called over to her, "You're making me cold just looking at you!"

She bit her lip, glancing at the crackling flames that someone had surrounded with rocks from the bay to keep it contained. It was a softly glowing red, twisting and licking at the air as it burned. Korra shook her head.

"No. I'm happy here." She called back, pulling the blanket tighter around herself. Kanshu laughed.

"Don't worry, Korra. We won't let the fire hurt you."

Korra pouted at him, glaring darkly for a moment before standing with a huff and throwing down her blanket, stomping towards the group.

"I know that," she snapped as she sat heavily on the ground next to Kanshu, "There's nothing scary about a bunch of stupid fire anyways."

The people around the fire laughed and Korra's pout deepened.

"Apparently not," Kanshu chuckled, leaning his weight back on his arms. She opened her mouth to give him a piece of her mind, but a light touch on her right hand, where the pink scar still wrinkled the skin, made the words stop halfway up her throat. Her head whipped around and her eyes met the dark blue gaze of a boy about her age, one with a similar scar to hers stretching along his round left cheek, sending her a knowing look. She scowled and turned back to Kanshu as he slapped her on the back and told everyone what an okay fighter she was.

The day wore on. The Blue Lanterns exchanged stories of their work, bragging about all the dangerous jobs they'd done and how they were going to be officially initiated soon. Korra impressed them all when she reached out and bent a small handful of water straight from the air, just like her father had taught her so long ago. She learned that the small scarred boy's name was Huka. Eventually their dinner was delivered and some of the older kids sawed off the lids of the cans with ice knives, passing around the black pinto beans to be eaten with their fingers. Eventually the rain stopped and the other kids wandered off, back to their blankets or outside into the late sun, but Korra lingered by the fire, eyes half-lidded and sleepy.

The warmth spread over her, and she could feel her inner fire swell slightly. For once she didn't force it down, instead allowing it to slowly warm her all the way to the very tips of her fingers. She sighed contently, the smell of smoke and the presence of humans around her reminding her for an instant of a place half a world away, in the land of ice and snow, when she'd had a family still.

When two pairs of kind arms gently pulled her to her feet and lead her back to her blanket, she wondered if she could perhaps have a family again after all.

**Two years after fire.**

Korra hummed happily as Renya's fingers combed through her hair, the gentle tugs calming her as the knots came loose under her careful fingers. Korra had been wary when Renya had snapped at her that her hair looked terrible and to get over there and let her fix it, but she couldn't deny that there was something strangely pleasant about the feeling of hands on her hair. She saw Renya reach for a long blue strip of leather as she gathered Korra's hair into a high wolftail, and tied it off with quick, sharp movements. She pushed her forward by the shoulders, jostling her slightly, and then turned Korra around sharply to look at her handy work from the front. She frowned down at her for a moment before nodding sharply in approval.

"Alright," she said with a scolding voice, although her light blue eyes were fond, "If you plan on staying here for breakfast, then you'd better plan on helping out a little. Put your waterbending to some good use and go over there to clean up some of Ennai's mess."

Korra laughed a little as she stood up off the floor, swiping the seat of her faded grey pants clean.

"Why can't you just call it 'Dinner', Renya?" Korra asked teasingly, poking the older woman's elbow, "It's not like anyone here sleeps at night anyways."

Renya rolled her eyes and pushed her towards the kitchen door.

"Just go and clean."

Korra smiled, wandering into the kitchen through the swinging doors and towards the sink that overflowed with dishes, the way it was every Sunday morning when she visited. Ennai barely glanced over her shoulder at her from where she appeared to be deep-frying some sort of stuffed pastry. The air was tinged pleasantly with cayenne paprika.

Korra didn't look over at Ennai at all as she walked over to the dishes, already pulling a stream of water towards her. She no longer minded Ennai's presence. She couldn't specifically say that she _enjoyed_ being so close to a firebender so often, but Renya had been right in saying that Ennai was harmless. All she ever seemed to do with her firebending was cook and occasionally tease some of the other Moon Flower girls, and Korra was learning to be indifferent to the little sparks that were sometimes flicked across the room at her. She was neutral towards Ennai.

"So how's life with those Red Monsoons?"

But Ennai always seemed determined to talk to her anyways. Korra sighed as she twirled her finger, spinning the soapy water inside a bowl to quickly scrub it clean.

"It's good, I guess," Korra said dryly, placing the bowl on the counter and picking up a plate, "Facian started to train me with waterbending,"

"Oh…" Ennai chewed on her bottom lip as she pulled several of the pastries out of the hot oil, dropping them onto a paper towel, "So does that mean they've stopped…you know…beating you up?"

Korra shrugged.

"Well, we still brawl. But it's all in good fun."

Ennai glanced over her shoulder at Korra's back, the light blue cotton of her shirt straining over the new muscles that were beginning to harden along Korra's shoulders. She blinked, recalling Korra's beaten and bloody face after she'd stumbled to the Moon Flower after a particularly bad beating last month. _All in good fun,_ she mused bitterly.

"I—like your hair like that," Ennai said softly, almost unheard over the sizzle of oil as she dropped in another few raw pastries. Korra paused in scrubbing a large pot, looking over her shoulder in surprise.

"Oh. I—" She began, staring at the firebender's back for a moment, "thanks Ennai," she finally muttered, tugging on the end of her new wolftail.

**Three years after fire**

Korra panted as her arms cut through the fog of early morning, water droplets pulled from the air as she spun and hurled them at Facian. He raised his hands, easily curving her attack away from himself and grabbing control of it, shooting it back at her. She gasped as her back hit the wall, ice freezing her arms and legs to the bricks. Facian grinned as he approached her.

"You're getting a lot better," he said, plucking his hands like he was lifting a veil and pulling the ice away from Korra in several thin streams of water, "At this rate you'll be a Red Knife before you're fifteen."

Korra smiled widely as she was freed, leaning back against the wall as she caught her breath. A water droplet fell on her cheek, the fog already beginning to turn to rain. They both looked up at the purplish grey clouds. Facian sighed gently.

"I should go," he said quietly, walking over to where he had left his jacket and hat by the wall. They were in the same grassy lot that Korra had started her 'training', and she had to admit that it was nicer to fight on the grass than on concrete, "I still need to get Yakuna's message to Red Knife branch three. She'll have my head if I'm late again,"

Korra frowned but nodded as he began to walk away. Facian was what was known as a 'Silver Sandal'. There were several levels of Red Monsoons, divided by the rank pendants they wore, and each level was divided into different branches. She herself lived at 'Blue Lantern branch six'. Silver Sandals ran messages between the branches and from the Red Monsoon's leader, Yakuna.

"Hey, Facian," She called after him, running a little to catch up. He paused to wait for her, giving her a look that clearly told her that she couldn't follow him around as he worked. Korra knew that. It was the reason she could only see him a few times a week for waterbending training, after all. There was just something she needed to ask him. Something that had been bothering her ever since Ennai had started to question her workings with the Triad. Her questions had been getting more and more personal until Korra could no longer answer them at all, in fear of revealing too much. But one question that Ennai had asked she hadn't know the answer to, and it still bothered her, whispering in the background of her thoughts until she couldn't ignore it.

"Why did you want me to join the Red Monsoons?" She asked, repeating Ennai's question.

One side of Facian's mouth pulled up into a small smile, and Korra suddenly felt a small weight lift off her heart. Facian was someone she could trust to answer her truthfully. He wouldn't have pushed her into the Triad for selfish reasons.

"Sometimes I wonder myself," he mused, his head turning towards the lazy river, "But I suppose it's because I saw that you were a fighter, right from the beginning. You were well suited for this kind of life, better then you're suited for life in some rundown orphanage or alone on the streets. And besides," he smiled at her kindly, reaching out to playfully tug on her wolftail, "This way you'll have a new family looking out for you."

Korra bit her lip for a second. Before Facian had time to blink she had thrown her arms around him and embraced him tightly, and just as quickly was gone. From at least a meter away she folded her hands together and bowed shallowly.

"Thank you," she said softly before turning and sprinting away, down the path that followed the flow of the river. Facian watched her go, speechless at the ghosting feeling of her hug. He closed his eyes, seeing not Korra's face, but one of a different young girl. One with the same spark of determination in her eyes and the same fighting spirit. One who had hugged him just like that years ago.

One for whom he'd sold his soul to keep from dying.

The one who'd died anyways.

Facian pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Don't do this to yourself," he said under his breath, "You don't want to go down that road again."

He sighed and, with a kick that sent a small pebble into the river just as the rain began to really pick up, began to walk towards Red Knife branch three.

**Three years and four months after fire.**

Huka elbowed her gently in the side. She looked up from the sheet of paper that had several characters scrawled on it, scowling at him for interrupting her. It had been _his _stupid idea to try and teach her to read and write, the least he could do was let her concentrate.

"Check it out," he breathed, nodding towards a trio of people walking along the boardwalk in a small mob, "Agni Kais."

Korra swung around, pulling her feet up out of the bay, to get a better look at them.

There was one girl and two boys, sixteen years old at the most and all with clear fire nation heritage. They all wore long-sleeved black shirts despite the mugginess of the overcast day, and they all had a red bandana tied around their wrists. Korra scowled deeply, clenching her right fist hard.

"Seriously?" She muttered, "At least _try_ to pretend you're not an Agni Kai." She pushed herself to her feet, her loose brownish shorts barely reaching her knees as she shook feeling back into her legs, "Come on," she said to Huka, jerking her head towards them, "Let's go tell them to get lost."

Huka's jaw dropped, his fingers reaching out to grab her arm before she could march away.

"Are you _insane_?" he asked, eyes flickering towards the Agni Kais. They'd paused, heads bowed together in a whispered conversation, "They'll kill us!"

Korra shook off his hand, rolling her eyes. They began to walk again, a little faster.

"Relax. We can take them," she said simply, taking a few steps out into the boardwalk so she stood directly in the middle of it, "Now hurry up."

"Korra…"

"Don't be such a yellow belly, Huka."

Huka glanced again at the Agni Kais, a hand on his cheek, right above the burn scar. When he looked back at her he had a new sense of determination in his dark cobalt eyes.

And suddenly Korra was falling, Huka's arms wrapped around her knees, and the bay was rushing up to meet her. They both crashed into the water, the familiar weightlessness of swimming grabbing hold as they kicked furiously back to the surface. Korra gasped and scrambled for the side of the boardwalk, but Huka stopped her, arms wrapping around her shoulders as he forced her back under the water.

"Huka!" Korra sputtered when she came back up, "Stop it!"

"Not until you promise not to fight!" he said, pushing her under the water again. Korra kicked out behind her and managed to land a kick to his stomach, shoving him off. She pivoted in the water, punching a fist towards Huka and sending him shooting back with a jet of water. He glared at her, slamming his palm upwards into the air. A block of ice flew from the water in front of Korra and nailed her in the chin.

A crowd had begun to gather at the side of the boardwalk, and with a final angry yell Korra reached out her hands and snapped them into fists. The water around Huka immediately froze, holding his limbs in place as he bobbed uselessly in the water, a small iceberg with a face.

Korra hauled herself up out of the water, coughing a little and ignoring the helping hands of strangers who had witnessed the fight. She turned to glare at Huka.

"Are you finished yet?" she snapped, crossing her arms in front of her. Huka's eyes flickered down the boardwalk and grinned.

"Yes, I am," he said proudly. Korra blinked before glancing down the path as well. The Agni Kais were nowhere to be seen. She scowled down at him.

"You stupid hog monkey," she snapped, splashing a handful of water in his face, "I am perfectly capable of handling myself in a fight."

"Yes," Huka agreed, "And now you're perfectly capable of handling yourself in a fight _and_ you're _alive._"

Korra huffed angrily, and with a wave of her hand another thick layer of ice formed at Huka's shoulders. He squawked in indignation as the change in balance flipped him over, dunking him in the water again.

**Four years eight months after fire.**

"I don't think you should come here anymore."

Korra blinked, looking up from the game of pai sho she had been playing with one of the Moon Flower girls. She had never been particularly good at the game, and today she was losing to the Earth Kingdom unusually quickly.

"What? Why?" Korra asked Renya, her lip jutting out in a deep pout. Her pai sho partner looked between the two before quietly excusing herself and scuttling away, her red skirts whispering around her legs. Renya sighed and kneeled down in front of Korra, reaching out and brushing the beaded strand of hair that dangled beside her face, tucking it behind her ear.

"You're getting older," Renya said unhappily, "People might start to think you work here, and they might start asking for your services. You do know what kind of business the Moon Flower is, don't you?"

Korra flushed pink in embarrassment. Of course she knew what the Moon Flower was. The other Blue Lanterns always gave her hell for spending so much time there.

It was a brothel.

A whorehouse.

"But I don't wear the uniform!" Korra argued, "And besides, even if some thick bloke asks for my _services_, I can just tell him to go get bent." Her brow creased a little, "Well, maybe not get bent. I'd tell him to jump off Silk Rope Bridge or something."

Renya shook her head sadly.

"It's not that simple. The men who come here, they don't like being told _no_. They'll try to take what they want anyways."

Korra jumped to her feet, glaring darkly.

"Then I'll stab them through the face!" she growled, punching sharply at the air, "They'd never even see it coming!"

Renya frowned, opening her mouth to say something else, but a voice from the doorway cut her off.

"If she really wants to keep coming here, Renya, nothing you say is going to stop her."

Ennai stood there, her eyes painted a deep gold that made the red undertones of her brown eyes stand out. She looked ready to go out and work, stand on her corner on some dark street of Republic City and hope that someone came along who was willing to buy. Renya sighed, shaking her head.

"It's not just for her benefit, Ennai," Renya said sadly, "She'll be initiated into the Red Monsoons soon. We can't have it seem like we have better relations with one Triad than the others. One day the Red Monsoons might attempt to claim Moon Flower, and we could be the center of a turf war. And I refuse to allow any of my girls be in the center of a turf war."

Korra blinked, looking between Renya and Ennai.

"Turf war?" she asked, "But this is a neutral place, isn't it?"

Renya looked down.

"Neutral territory is just unclaimed land," she said under her breath, then smiled up at Korra more kindly, "I can only keep Moon Flower from being a single Triad's property by paying them all what they would have made by owning it anyways. It's hard on all of us, and we have to work twice as hard to make ends meet, but it keeps the fighting away from my girls. And if the Red Monsoons suddenly decided that they could lay claim to us…" she trailed off, gazing at Ennai sadly, "There's no way they'll let any of the Earth Kingdom or Fire Nation girls stay. And if they do, it won't be pleasant for them in the least."

Ennai inclined her head slightly in agreement, but her lip quirked up mischievously.

"But it won't be favoring the Red Monsoons if she _pays_ to be here."

Renya scowled, icy eyes flashing.

"I am _not _having an eleven year old child pay for the services of a _brothel_." She snapped, getting to her feet. Ennai bowed her chin slightly to meet her eyes.

"I'm not saying we have her pay for any services. Just to be here. We can charge her cheap since that's all she'll be doing, and if she's a paying customer than the Red Monsoons will have no grounds to claim Moon Flower as theirs."

Renya's careening hand nearly smacked Korra in the face.

"Does she _look_ like she has any money!"

"I could make some," Korra piped up, "There are some extra jobs I could start doing that the Red Monsoons would pay me for."

Renya shook her head violently, several silvery stands flying loose.

"No," she growled, "No, no, no, no, absolutely not!" Ennai sighed.

"Renya—"

"And you!" Renya interrupted, jabbing a finger at Ennai's chest, "Stop encouraging her! She'd be better off a million miles away from this place! She can't keep coming here!"

Ennai calmly covered Renya's hand with her own, pushing it away.

"I honestly think that it would be better for her to come here," She said softly, glancing over at Korra, "It's good to get other perspectives on life than the one the Red Monsoons show her."

Korra reached out, brushing Renya's arm gently. Renya broke off of Ennai's gaze to look down at her.

"I don't want to stop coming here," she said, jaw set in determination. Renya glanced between the two girls desperately, the resolve in both of their faces nearly identical. She threw her hands up in frustration.

"Fine," she snapped, shouldering past Ennai and into the hallway, "Do whatever you want!"

Ennai grinned, her deep maroon lips contrasting sharply with the white flash of her teeth.

"Well," she said, "That was easier than I expected," Ennai turned towards Korra, but her smile dropped when she saw her scowl, "What is it? Don't you want to keep coming here?"

Korra nodded slowly, the beads in her hair clicking gently.

"Yes, of course I do. It's just…" her words faltered for a moment and she inspected Ennai's face carefully, "I didn't expect _you_ to defend me. I don't even _like _you." Ennai's mouth quirked up into a small smile.

"I know you don't," she said with a shrug, "I just feel like you being here is the best chance to change your path."

"My path? You mean with the Red Monsoons? I already told you, you aren't going to convince me to quit—"

"No, not that," Ennai interrupted, waving her hand, "The _reason_ you joined the Red Monsoons. It was for revenge, wasn't it." It wasn't a question, and Korra jutted her bottom lip out angrily at the assumption. Ennai continued quietly, "You want to get back at the Agni Kais for killing your parents. I saw you setting yourself up for that path the night you first came here. What you said about your scar," she reached out and gently touched the pink flesh, "That made me realize where you were going."

Korra jerked her hand away from Ennai's touch and cradled it to her chest, glaring.

"Revenge?" she snapped, "Of course I want revenge. Why would it matter to you?"

She smiled a ruefully, reaching up a hand to curl around a black lock of her own hair.

"Because you're wrong," Ennai said simply, "That's a stupid thing to strive for. You think you're the only one who's lost their family? Please. My entire family was _slaughtered_ because my father refused to pay the Triple Threats even though we lived on their turf. They took my entire family, every single one of their lives. And then," she paused, staring at Korra as if trying to gauge how much she could handle, "One of them dragged me to my bedroom and the others decided what he did there was terrible enough to let me live. He was a waterbender," Korra blinked in surprise, a hand reaching up to touch the dark skin of her own face. Ennai took a small frenzied breath, "I decided I was going to kill _him_ first, and then the rest of the Triple Threats. Obviously that never happened."

Korra stared at Ennai. She'd never seen her look so…hollow. Her face so expressionless, her eyes so blank.

"But you at least got _him_, didn't you?" Korra asked quietly, "The man who…" she trailed off. Ennai's hand tightened on her hair, her knuckles turning white.

"I came very close," she admitted, "Except when I found him, he was wallowing in a puddle of his own vomit outside a bar; sobbing about a wife some Agni Kais had killed years back. Wronging me, a firebender, had been his form of revenge. And I realized that if I killed him the cycle would only continue. How did I know he didn't have someone, a friend or a relative, who would miss him and want revenge on me? How do I know that they wouldn't go out and hurt the first Fire Nation girl they came across? I didn't want that. So I left him to his pain," she snorted bitterly, "It was enough anyways."

Korra suddenly didn't want to look at Ennai with her blue water tribe eyes. Ennai laughed hollowly, reaching out to tilt Korra's chin up. Their gazes met.

"Don't worry Korra. I haven't kept any grudges against the people of the Water Tribe. How could I? After Renya found me and brought me in? Working here may not be my dream job, but it's my home now."

"But don't you hate them just a little?" Korra asked softly, "Water Tribe people or the Triple Threats?"

Ennai shrugged.

"I've decided," She said slowly, "That I don't hate anyone. Not even the Triads. I only _pity_ them. Because they're pitiful."

Korra gnawed on her bottom lip. Pity? Pity definitely wasn't something she felt for the Agni Kais. When she thought of them all she saw was her building on fire, the sting of her skin burning and the sting of tears. All she felt was furious anger.

"Why would you tell me that?" Korra snapped

Ennai laughed hallowly, beginning to uncurl her fingers around the lock of hair as colour began to return to her cheeks.

"You dislike me for being a firebender," she said, "And you hate the Agni Kais for what they did. It's clear you want blood, and that you're striving to get it. But against who, exactly? Ranshao specifically? All Agni Kais? Firebenders in general? You don't even know," she shook her head, "No matter what, someone who's innocent of all the wrongs that were done against you is going to end up hurt."

Her eyes pricked with the impending onslaught of tears, and Korra wrestled them back.

"But I hate them," she said in a hoarse voice, "I _hate them all_. Those stupid firebenders. I _hate_ them."

She expected for Ennai to look hurt, for her eyebrows to pinch in offense the way they always did when Korra expressed her feelings towards firebenders. But instead she smiled, reaching out a hand, palm up, towards her.

"Put your hand underneath mine," she instructed. Korra stared at her in confusion.

"What?"

Ennai rolled her eyes, jerking her palm slightly in Korra's direction.

"Your hand," she repeated, "Put it under mine."

Korra carefully reached out and touched her palm to the back of Ennai's fingers, unsure what Ennai was doing. It probably had something to do with firebending, but—

She jumped when the flame suddenly burst from Ennai's palm. She started to pull away.

"No, wait!" Ennai said quickly, "It's alright; I've got control of it. Just…wait. Can't you feel it?"

Korra _could _feel it, her inner flame swelling and shimmering in response, but she wasn't about to tell Ennai about that. She settled on giving a stiff nod, and a smile broke out over Ennai's face.

"I've always thought fire was a strange sort of element. It's scary, destructive, hard to tame. But once you have it somewhere where it won't be a danger…" the fire swelled, ever so slightly, the flames growing brighter. Ennai smiled wider, "It's life. It's warmth and light. I heard that in the South Pole you get weeks of freezing cold darkness, surely fire was a blessing then."

Korra dipped her head, the foggy memory of a snow hut filled with smoke and bodies surfacing. Yes, she remembered that fire had been praised. There was even a festival to light thousands of lanterns and try to bring light back to the darkness.

"Yes, but…" Korra's words trailed off. But what? But fire also burns? But the smoke stings your eyes and chokes your lungs? But even then it had been a constant danger; one that had to be carefully monitored at all times so not to hurt anyone?

And yet _this _fire, cupped in Ennai's palm where it sat happily licking the air with smokeless flames, it was different somehow. It seemed to swell and retreat in on itself in a slow, constant beat, matching her breaths as she inhaled and exhaled through her mouth. Her inner fire trembled and warmed, spreading to Korra's fingertips. She held her breath for a moment, feeling the warm air seem to swirl through her lungs, and then exhaled, slow and long. For a moment the fire grew to twice its original size, and Ennai frowned in confusion.

"What in the—"

Korra's hands jerked away, quickly wiping the sweaty palms onto her trousers.

"I—" Korra swallowed gently before giving a shallow bow to Ennai. Her brown eyes widened in surprise, "Thank you…for everything." she said quietly, "I—I'll think about your words."

Ennai smiled softly.

"That's all I ask."

**Five years after fire.**

Senna stood in front of the house, her heart pounding in her ears. This was it. Their last chance. If no one could find the Water Tribe girl Korra, then maybe they could find the Avatar Korra. Tonraq squeezed her left hand in his, although he seemed to be shaking more than she was.

He reached out and knocked hard on the councilman's door. A water tribe man answered it, his face sharply angled and his hair pulled back into three traditional longtails at the back of his head. Senna stepped forward, head held as high as she could manage. He raised a sceptical eyebrow, no doubt at their tattered clothing and filthy skin. For an instant Senna regretted not trying to clean up in the river before coming, but she supposed it was too late for that now.

"Councilman Tarrlok?" she asked politely. He nodded slowly, his eyes falling on her arm where it ended at her elbow.

"Yes?"

She swallowed heavily, exchanging a glance with her husband. He nodded in reassurance. Senna took a deep breath.

"Our daughter is the Avatar…and we need help finding her."

...***...

The tea in Senna's cup gently swirled, following her finger's path as she spun in slowly in the air, almost touching the surface of steaming drink. The councilman had allowed them into his home very cautiously; his hand resting on a small pouch on his hip that sloshed with water as he moved. It was plain that he didn't quite believe that their lost daughter was the Avatar, and that was a problem. Their only proof was their word. She'd hoped it would be enough.

"So," Councilman Tarrlok said slowly, looking back and forth between the pair, "What makes you so sure that your daughter is the _one_?"

Senna's finger stilled as she felt Tonraq's reassuring hand rest on her knee. She exhaled loudly through her nose before speaking.

"She's been a waterbender since almost when she was first born. But when she was six, she had a bit of a temper tantrum and…" she trailed off, her throat constricting at the memory, "And started to bend fire and rocks around."

Tarrlok raised his eyebrows over his tea.

"Six? But the new Avatar would have to be twelve by now…"

"Yes," Tonraq agreed in a voice that was heavily raspy, "She would be, wouldn't she." His hand tightened on her knee. Senna swallowed heavily.

"She disappeared five years ago. Our building was attacked by some Agni Kais," She said, gently touching the stump of her right arm, "We haven't seen a trace of her since. We thought that maybe…that maybe she'd been killed. But nothing was ever said about a sign of the Avatar dying. So we were hoping that… that we could get some help in finding her. Or at least be told whether or not the Avatar _was_ killed and if that information was kept secret. We _need _to know."

"Why wait so long before coming forward?" Tarrlok asked.

"Because…" Senna felt Tonraq's hand clench, "Because we felt like it was our responsibility, our fault. Because we'd tried to hide her away from the White Lotus after we found out who she was." Senna's fist clenched tightly, and suddenly words were spilling from her mouth in an unstoppable flood, "They would have taken her away, locked her in a prison where we'd close to never seen her again to _train _her. Have you ever seen the White Lotus compound in Kekertuk, Councilman Tarrlok? I have, and let me tell you, it is _awful._ It's a giant, ugly tumor sitting on the icy planes of our home. We weren't about to let them lock our child in there, so we thought we could just take her to this place, this _city_, and train her in Waterbending here. Most Avatars don't begin training with the other elements until they're sixteen. We figured there could be no harm in keeping her away until at least then—" She felt Tonraq's arms wrap around her, and her rapid words slowed to a stop. She trembled against her husband, staring at Tarrlok with pleading eyes, begging him to understand.

Tarrlok exhaled a laugh, gently placing his teacup on the table, the light click of porcelain on wood lingering with the sounds of their breathing.

"So you came to _me_."

Senna nodded slowly.

"We'd hoped—that we would perhaps be better received by someone from the Water Tribes, who understands how strong our peoples' family ties are."

Tarrlok's mouth quirked up bitterly.

"You seem to have been quite desperate for you to come to me at all," he said, folding his hands under his chin, "It's strange. In my experience, when people are at their most desperate, they have a tendency to turn to the underworld of Republic City," Senna looked away, and Tarrlok's eyebrows shot up, "Unless you…already have?"

"No," Senna said quickly, "We didn't ask them for help in looking for her, it's just…" She hesitated, glancing at her hand, curled on the table, "When we first came here, we were stowaways. We had no money, no possessions, nothing. We were about to be deported. So…we borrowed some money from a group of people who called themselves 'The Red Monsoons'. Enough to get us started. We planned fully on paying them back, but we also knew a little about how the Triads in this city worked, so we thought it would be better to find a home in Agni Kai territory. We didn't think it would be dangerous… and then the building was burned down, and I couldn't work anymore because of my arm and Tonraq was laid off at the docks for some machinery soon after…and now we can't pay them back at all. We thought it would be best to…stay away from that until we were in a better situation. And then…" her hand brushed against her worn clothing, "We never got in a better situation."

Tarrlok nodded slowly, his finger running along the edge of his teacup. He pulled his hand away, a light dusting of droplets coating them.

"I see…"

He jerked his hand back, the tea sharpening to a wicked edge that grazed along his own cheek and opened up a long, thin gash. Senna opened her mouth in confusion, but Tarrlok threw his hands up, water shooting up from the pouch at his hip in two long, thin strands and striking towards them like vipers. Suddenly Senna's hand was frozen to the surface of the table, and Tonraq's arms were trapped together in icy restraints. Senna tried to get to her feet, knocking the chair she had been sitting on violently back, and propped a foot onto the edge of the table as she desperately tried to yank her hand free. Tarrlok put two fingers in his mouth and let out a long, loud whistle.

Within seconds the pair was restrained by metal cables and being dragged from the room by a squad of metalbending police. A young woman, with a shiny badge pinned proudly to her chest, approached Tarrlok.

"Are you all right, councilman Tarrlok?" she asked, folding her hands behind her back as she looked down her nose at him. He exhaled deeply, reaching out to gently touch the cut on his cheek and gazing at the red that stained his fingertips.

"I'm alright," he said simply, "They attacked but I was able to fend them off. Although I must say it's a relief that you and your officers were able to arrive here so quickly, Chief Beifong."

The chief snorted a laugh, gently brushing back a strand of short black hair behind her ear.

"Well, it isn't every day we get an emergency call from a councilmember. I'd thought those panic buttons were never going to be used."

Tarrlok smiled at the chief, placing a hand on her shoulder. She turned her head slightly to glare at it until he carefully removed his fingers, clearing his throat

"Well," he said, "Thank you for your help, Chief."

Lin Beifong grunted a half-hearted 'you're welcome', turning to leave.

"I suppose I'll see you at the trial than, Councilman Tarrlok."

"Trial?"

Chief Beifong paused at the door, glancing over her shoulder at the councilman.

"Yes. They're citizens of Republic City, and have a right to a fair trial in front of the council."

"But they made a direct attempt on a council member's life! And they _admitted_ to coming here illegally and ties with the Red Monsoon Triad!"

"And you may accuse them of all that _in a trial_," Lin pursed her lips in annoyance, "You're a _part_ of the council, Tarrlok. I'd assumed you knew all of this."

Tarrlok cleared his throat, folding his hands together and bowed slightly.

"Yes, of course," he said quickly, "I—apologize for my lapse in memory, Chief Beifong. I suppose I must still be a little disoriented after this whole ordeal. Thank you for your help."

Lin's eyes narrowed. She nodded slowly once before turning and leaving the dining room.

Tarrlok let out the breath he had been holding and covered his eyes with the palm of his hand. He allowed a small smile to tug at his lips. Their claim that their daughter was the Avatar was unlikely at best, but still, it was good to be sure.

**Five years two months after fire.**

Yakuna read over the paper she had been handed for the third time, then looked over at the young girl sitting in front of her desk, dwarfed by the high-backed chair, then back at the paper. She didn't believe it, or wouldn't have believed it if it wasn't for the fact that there was the sound of loud barking filtering up into the office from downstairs. She ran a hand over her scalp, starting at the shaved strip behind her right ear and threading up into the stiffly spiked short hair at the top of her head.

"So let me get this straight," Yakuna began slowly, glancing down at the girl through her heavily painted lashes, "You broke into the Republic City zoo, _alone_, so you could steal a _polar bear dog pup_?"

The girl immediately straightened up, turning her blue eyes to meet those of the Red Monsoons' leader with a surprising boldness and nodded sharply.

"Yes." She sounded like she wanted to add an 'of course' to the end of her answer. Yakuna again glanced down at the paper.

"And you did this without setting off any security or alerting any of the guards there?"

Again the girl nodded.

"Yes."

Yakuna breathed a laugh, shaking her head slowly as she leaned back in her chair.

"Impressive," the girl's eyes lit up for a moment, but Yakuna raised a hand, "Stupid and _completely_ pointless, but still impressive," Yakuna's eyes flickered towards the paper again reading it over one more time, "_How _old did you say you were again?"

The girl shrugged, tugging on the beaded strip of hair she had hanging next to her face.

"Eleven or twelve, probably. _Maybe_ thirteen."

"Huh," Yakuna placed the papers down on her desk, folding her neatly manicured fingers together as she looked at the girl more closely, "And do you have a name?"

The girl nodded again.

"Yes ma'am. My name is Korra."

Yakuna smiled, tilting her head to the side slightly as she continued to inspect the girl, Korra. She never once flinched under her gaze or looked away, an impressive feat. The only reaction she seemed to have to Yakuna was to narrow her eyes, as if unimpressed, and clench her fists tightly on her lap. The kid had guts; she had to give her that.

"So. Korra," Yakuna grinned over her folded hands, "How would you like to begin training to become a Red Knife?"

Korra's eyes widened, her mouth falling open.

"A Red Kni—are you serious?"

Yakuna snorted.

"Yes or no kid, before I start to think you're too indecisive to handle it."

"YES!" Korra shouted loudly, nearly leaping from the chair in excitement. Suddenly, as if remembering herself, she cleared her throat and calmly got to her feet. She folded her hands together and bowed lowly to the Triad's leader, "Thank you very much for this opportunity, miss." She said quietly to the floor. Yakuna rolled her eyes.

"You're welcome. Now scram before I decide to throw you in the bay instead."

Korra straightened up, her lip jutting out, clearly not amused by the suggestion, and half ran towards the door. She paused with her hand on the knob, half turned, and glanced over her shoulder, the first signs of uncertainty beginning to show in her face.

"Will I be allowed to keep her?" she asked. Yakuna's brow creased.

"Keep who?"

"The polar bear dog pup. Can I keep her?"

Yakuna waved a hand.

"Sure, whatever kid. As long as it doesn't cause us any trouble it doesn't really make a difference to me. Feel free to hide her in that warehouse in the Bexley borough. We've never really used it anyways."

Korra grinned, her face stretching with the effort of it, and quickly thanked her one last time before sprinting into the hallway. A moment later there was a loud bark and the sound of Korra's laughter, as well as someone yelling for her not to run through the halls. Yakuna smiled slightly, turning to face the wall behind her desk, covered in the thousands and thousands of tiny glass vials. Not all of them were filled but those that were held a dark red substance, and only the filled vials were labeled with names. Yakuna's eyes automatically sought out the place where young Korra's vial would soon sit, and she smiled widely.

She was glad they bothered her with this case, she decided. The prospect of a newly filled vial cheered her up considerably.

**Five years four months after fire.**

Korra was suddenly caught up in a flurry of activity. Every night she trained vigorously with the other Red Knife trainees, all of them older than her by at least four years, and was still expected to complete her jobs as a Blue Lantern. Not to mention she now also had to take care of a constantly hungry polar bear dog pup, train it, keep it exercised and happy, and still have time to walk all the way home from the Bexley borough for dinner, which was a _very _long walk. Every spare moment was spent asleep, and her training with Facian came to an abrupt halt as well as her weekly visits to the Moon Flower. Which she may not have been able to visit anyways because lately her money had been getting eaten up by a hungry polar bear dog, _which lived very far from her home._

Her training consisted of mostly waterbending and bendingless fighting (she wasn't the only one who thought that that sounded stupid) but every month, when the moon was at its fullest, they trained in something else. Korra could swear the blood in her veins still ached by the time she got home and collapsed onto her blanket.

Bloodbending was surprisingly painful.

.o.O.o.

_Hey you guys. Want to know what's funny? I've been researching Triads recently, and I've discovered that the closest thing to an actual Triad in the show…_

_Is the Order of the White Lotus._

_Isn't that so ironic? (I mean a Triad is technically something that tries to overthrow corrupt leaders *cough*Ozai*cough* and the Triads pretty much always come from China… really I'd say the show has Tongs, not Triads, but Tongs sounds sort of lame in comparison, so Triads it is.)_


	6. Red Knife

Korra's gloved fingers trailed along the seam in her water pouch, the woman's babbling fading out into white noise. Aysu seemed to be studying the worn Earth Kingdom hanging on the wall just inside the dingy apartment, her long, tight braids falling from behind her ear like a heavy curtain. They both knew the gist of what was being said without hearing the words. First always came mock confusion, as if the sickly thin woman had no idea what they were doing there. As if she didn't already know. As if they hadn't repeatedly warned her that this was coming. Korra didn't even need to look her in the eye to see that she was panicking on the inside. The feeling rolled off her in stressed waves even as she cheerfully smiled at them like nothing in the world was wrong.

_What are you doing all the way out here?_

_Is there something you needed?_

_I wasn't expecting visitors._

That last one was the biggest lie of them all. It was obvious that she didn't have the money that they were there for, and it was obvious that she had been expecting them. Korra could see it in the braid she had her hair up in, the one that was so distinctly Water Tribe and yet so poorly recreated by her clumsy Earth Kingdom fingers. Once the woman realized that there was no point in pretending, she quickly turned to the false compliments.

_Oh, what lovely blue eyes you have._

_You two are such tireless workers; you should get breaks more often._

_Is that a new vest? It's very…blue. And nice! __**Very**__ nice._

This time, Aysu had been the one that had stopped the woman's compliments short and asked the golden question, _"Do you have our money?" _They usually took turns asking, although Korra could have sworn that this was Aysu's third turn in a row. She didn't find that she cared all that much. Korra would let her have her fun. She just wished that the excuses didn't have to come next. That was always the most painful part to listen to.

_Oh, yes, um, the money. Well you see… I, uh, I'll have it next week for sure._

_My husband had an accident at the factory, and he's unable to work right now you see._

_Business has been a little slow. It seems that not a lot of people are looking to buy Earth Kingdom-style jewellery these days._

Korra and Aysu exchanged tired glances. The lady was almost to tears already. There was no point in dragging it out. Korra shouldered past her, Aysu close behind. She heard the sound of the Earth Kingdom hanging getting pulled off the wall and the woman's strangled objections but ignored them, not stopping until she stood in the middle of the tiny one-room apartment. She turned her head slightly, glancing at the small boy with wide brown eyes and a dimple in his brow huddled next to a man with a heavily bandaged head and arm. The man had a faraway look in his eyes, like he was seeing the two Red Monsoons in his home but wasn't processing the information. Korra stared at them for a moment longer, eyes lingering over the boy before she turned back towards the woman standing by the door. Aysu folded the hanging over her arm gently, a hard scowl creasing her brows. But Korra could see the barely-there upturn of her lips, a smile.

"Alright then," Korra snapped, "If you can't give us the yuans we need, then you'll have to pay us some other way," Her eyes scanned over the room. There wasn't much to look at, with the apartment's bare walls and worn furniture. There wasn't even a bed, just a tattered koala sheep wool blanket spread out on the floor. Aysu glanced at the small boy in the corner and her mouth turned up mischievously.

"Oooh, I know," Aysu sang, drumming her fingers against her own water flask as she approached the father and son, "How about the little one? He looks like he could fetch a good price," the child cowered further into his blank father's side, "I bet we could find some rich fire-noble who'd buy him up in an instant."

The woman gasped in horror, taking a step towards them with a hand half-raised, but hesitated. Her wide brown eyes flickered over Korra and Aysu's faces nervously, scared to make eye contact, her mouth opening and closing wordlessly. Korra just rolled her eyes.

"Su, lay off," she said quietly, "That's ridiculous."

Aysu sighed, stretching her arm out to gently brush the boy's face with her fingertips. He flinched away from her touch.

"I know it is," Aysu said, standing and turning towards the woman, "We won't be taking people as payment today, ma'am. Not unless you decide to sell him to us. I wasn't kidding when I said he could go for a good price."

"O-oh," the woman stammered, "Then I…No. No I won't—no."

Korra nodded once, ignoring the woman's babbling triple-negatives, and jerked her chin towards Aysu.

"Search the place for anything valuable," she said, already wandering towards the workbench that was pushed up against the wall, "I'm sure that hanging you've got there is worth something. It looks hand made."

She gently ran a finger over the worn wood of the desk, deep nicks brought on by time and harsh use covering its surface. She tried the first drawer, and finding it locked she grunted in annoyance, popping the top off of her water pouch. Tensing her hand flat and jerking it upwards, the water broke through the wood; splintered edges left in its wake, and snapped the lock loose. She pulled the drawer open, revealing several fine tools lined up neatly, and behind them a coil of jewelry grade wire with a golden gleam in the dim lantern light of the apartment. Korra pulled that loose, holding it out for the woman to see.

"Is this gold?" she asked flatly. Quickly the woman shook her head.

"No," she squeaked, "It's just painted copper. But it might fetch a price at the power plant or something…"

Korra exchanged a look with Aysu and shrugged, wrapping the wire around her wrist like a bracelet and rummaging through several more drawers. None of the others were locked, and each held boring things like papers and pens and several old notebooks. She pulled one notebook out and flipped through the pages, but it was all written in some kind of older script that was reminiscent of Earth Kingdom, so she replaced it without much inspection. When she had pocketed a hand-carved figurine of a badger mole and a letter opener that had a facetted glass tip (some Blue Lanterns may be able to pass it off as a crystal to a stupid tourist) she turned back to her partner.

"Come on, Su," Korra called, "We'll run this by the White Paper Fan, see how much he thinks it will cover."

Aysu glanced up from where she was sorting through the family's wardrobe, several slightly less threadbare articles hanging off her shoulder. She nodded and glanced back at the family. The woman had now joined her husband and child, standing between them and the two girls with arms slightly spread. It was almost pathetic; her thin arms out as if to protect her family when she looked like she would crumble under her own weight at any moment, eyes beginning to fill with tears. Korra swallowed, beginning to walk towards the exit with Aysu close behind. She paused in the doorway and looked back, speaking one more time.

"We're going to take these and mark down how much it covers your family's debt," she said dryly, "Someone will come later this week to let you know how much you still owe. And you'd better be prepared to pay it then. I don't care how you get the money. Just have it."

Korra turned again to leave, but Aysu's hand on her shoulder stopped her.

"Wait up, Gloves. Aren't you forgetting something?"

Korra scoffed, tugging on the cuffs of her cotton gloves in annoyance. She raised her hands, inhaling deeply as she twisted her wrists, fingers splaying as she felt for the presence of water, sitting in the metal pipes hiding behind the drywall of the ceiling. She jerked her arms fast, whipping them around as she stepped, and the water shot from the pipes in a million tiny spears of razor sharp water. It burst in a spray of misting water and gentle droplets of lukewarm rain that curled into frost, freezing into a web as fine and sparkling as dew on spider silk. The woman let out a scream, throwing up her arms to protect her head as the ice shot out. But it froze just short of her family, trapping them in a sparkling cage.

Korra straightened her vest with a sharp flick, glaring over at Aysu.

"_Now _we're leaving. Let's go."

Aysu pouted and trotted after Korra through the door, slamming it shut behind her and leaving the family to stare at the ice in disbelief.

After a few moments of silence, the woman reached out a trembling hand and tapped the closest piece of ice with her finger. It shattered on contact.

.o.O.o.

Korra silenced the landowner's call of farewell with a withering glare before it was all the way out of his mouth, throwing the front door of the building open and walking out into the streets with her head high. The sky was overcast; it was always overcast, and today the lightest misting of rain had come with the clouds, giving her thigh-length leather vest a slightly wet sheen. The sleeves of her white blouse stuck to her skin, an uncomfortable feeling.

She heard Aysu following close behind her. Korra ignored her, continuing towards their car. She sat in the passenger seat, bending the rain water off her vest with a flick of her wrist as Aysu took her seat behind the wheel.

Korra's face was pressed against the cool glass of the window by the time Aysu turned the key and the engine rumbled to life. Her eyes drooped, half lidded, as she felt the soft tremble of the vehicle run through the glass and into her cheekbone. It soothed the pounding pain that had started to echo in her skull, the constant sound to almost drowning out the screaming behind her temple.

_An Earth Kingdom mother, clutching a new born baby to her chest with a smile that played across her mouth as she looked to her husband, her terribly thin husband who had clearly been sacrificing meals so that she could eat._

"_I know what I want to name our baby now. Hope."_

"You okay?" Aysu asked as she shifted the car into drive. Cracked open an eye, and grunted a half-hearted yes as her headache calmed slightly.

"I'll be better when the full moon's over," she muttered, peeling her cheek off the window and leaning back in her seat with closed eyes, massaging her temples, "Yakuna's been working us like dogs this month. I feel like my head's about to explode."

As members of Red Knife branch eight, Aysu and Korra were in a branch of the Red Monsoons often nicknamed 'Yakuna's Sharpest Knives'. Branch eight was made up of the most talented fighters in the Triad, singled out from training before they were initiated because they were the best benders they could find. Korra had made the ranks two years ago when she had been fifteen, the youngest member of branch eight to date. Aysu had only made it more recently, last year, not quite young enough to declare prodigy status at seventeen. Branch eight was perhaps most famous among Republic City's underworld for their monthly work during the full moon, when they brought out their most powerful weapons as waterbenders.

In the underworld, the full moon had been nicknamed the blood moon because of it.

Aysu tried, and failed, to stifle a yawn as they pulled out of their parking spot and started down the street.

"I hear ya," she said tiredly, scratching the back of her head, "She's always expecting us to work both our day and night shifts at the full moon, but _usually_ we get a day or two off to rest. I don't think I've slept longer than a few power naps in two days."

Korra cracked an eye open and glanced at her.

"Are you sure you're okay to drive?"

Aysu frowned, but didn't look away from the road

"What do you mean? I'm driving, aren't I?"

"I just don't want to die in a car crash today, okay?"

"Alright. Not swerving into the river as we speak."

Korra breathed a laugh and turned her head so she could watch the district disappear, their sleek black car moving downhill and back towards Yue Bay. These parts were the furthest inland of all the Red Monsoon's territory, and were mostly only kept that way because none of the other Triads cared enough about it to try and take it from them. Their true power was near the shore, where they had an entire ocean of artillery at their disposal. There were definitely some disadvantages to the element water, its use limited to how much you can carry on your person and on how much you can glean from your surroundings, even if in the full moon waterbenders reigned supreme.

"We need a night out," Aysu announced as they paused at a stoplight, "Clearly all this extra work we've been doing has been getting to your head. Tomorrow night the moon won't be full enough to allow for bloodbending anyways. I'll ask Kanshu for time off. We can head over to the Chai Tiger, just the two of us, and go and find us some ass. What do you say?"

Korra leaned back in her seat, smiling at Aysu fondly.

"You know what? I think a night off it exactly what I need."

.o.O.o.

Korra's feet hammered the stone as she ran, the sound of her boots taking two or three steps at a time echoing off the stairwell's walls. Her legs burned as she grabbed the railing and whipped around another landing, starting up another flight with barely a glance at the wooden door with a brass _11_ nailed into it. Up two more flights and—

Her hand slapped against the wood, right under the shiny _13._

"I win!" she yelled in victory, spinning around to gloat. The stairs behind her were empty, painted white and silent, "Aysu?"

There was a half-hearted grunt of an answer, much farther than she would have expected. Leaning over the royal-blue painted railing Korra gazed all the way down to ground level. About eight landings down a light brown hand was gripping the railing, slowly making their way up the stairs. A laugh bubbled up from Korra's mouth.

"Hey!" Aysu called up at her, "Don't make fun! We can't all be superhuman freaks like you."

"You agreed to race me."

There was the sound of heavy footsteps as Aysu pulled herself up a few more steps.

"And then I gave up two thirds of the way."

"What floor did you stop at?"

"Eight. Why?"

"There are thirteen floors. That's not even two thirds."

Aysu laughed, the sound loud and echoing.

"Don't give me that bullshit. There are only twelve floors. Just because the crazy landowner is superstitious enough to never stick a twelve anywhere doesn't mean there are any more floors than twelve."

"So you _did_ make it two thirds?"

"Exactly."

Korra snorted a laugh and pushed away from the railing.

"Ya, well when you finish dragging yourself up to the apartment, let me know how proud of yourself you are."

"And that's another thing. The number on our door says 41. But that's just because there's no apartment 12, 24, or 36. We should live in 44!"

"No one cares Su."

"_I _care!"

Korra let the sound of Aysu's voice drop from her attention, the words ignored as she launched into an all-out rant about how the landowner's fear of twelve was completely stupid. Korra pushed through the door and made her way down the hall towards her and Aysu's shared apartment, the brownish-white of the carpet softening the sound of her steps.

She dumped her vest into the front closet without hanging it up, wandering down the entryway and through their living room. In true Red Monsoon fashion, the décor was mostly Water Tribe, from the blue painted walls and brown leather furniture to the silvery wooden counter of the kitchenette in the back corner. There were some untraditional touches to the apartment as well, the coffee table made of worked iron and the glass-topped hutch in the corner where the radio sat, as well as several red silk banners that Aysu had pinned up one weekend after declaring that all the blue was giving her a headache.

Korra had just finished unbuttoning her white dress shirt when Aysu opened the door. Aysu's hands immediately flew up to cover her eyes.

"Have you no modesty woman! Change in your room for once, will you?"

Korra rolled her eyes, shrugging out of the shirt and folding it over her arm.

"I have an undershirt on."

"It's just the _principal_ of it. Most people find it unpleasant when they walk in to find their roommate undressing in the living room you know."

Korra knew. She knew it all too well, and was reminded on a daily basis when Aysu started to strip down 'because this is my home and I can do what I want, damn it'. Aysu had been that way ever since she was assigned to Korra as her roommate two years ago, when Korra was just starting as a Red Knife and Aysu had been a promising Blue Lantern awaiting initiation. Korra again ducked into her room to finish changing into something more practical for working, same as she'd always done.

A few minutes later she walked back into the sitting room wearing darker, more movable clothing, re-gathering her hair into a wolftail. A half-dressed Aysu was flipping through some papers on the coffee table. Korra grabbed her boots and sat on the couch next to her, beginning to lace them up.

"So what are we doing tonight?" Korra asked, nodding at the papers without commenting on the fact that Aysu only had one leg in her pants.

"We're headed to that area in the Otter Trail borough that the Agni Kais captured two weeks ago. Yakuna was terribly fond of it, apparently."

"Really?" Korra said, leaning over to read the top paper, "I was expecting her to send us a little further into Agni Kai territory, hit them where it hurts or something. She doesn't usually send us for reclaiming territory."

Aysu shrugged, placing the paper back on the table so she could finish putting on her pants.

"Well, Otter Trail is where a whole bunch of Water Tribe tall hats live. The Red Monsoons get a good chunk of cash coming out of there on a regular basis. It's probably worth more than some backwater Agni Kai neighbourhood that we'll lose at the first new moon."

"Ya. I guess so. How many of branch eight are going to be there?"

"Everyone except Kilee, Irik, Mabi, and Lakir. They're going to be at the Scarlet Tear for some extra security. Some rich guy expecting an assassination attempt gave a fortune and his firstborn child for the Red Monsoon's protection tonight. Oh, get this. Yakuna asked for you to_ specifically _take Naga to Otter Trail. I think she wants us to go for the_ intimidation_ tactic," Aysu grinned in excitement, "Maybe I should get out the war paint or something."

"Oh, definitely," Korra said sarcastically, "and maybe I should dye Naga purple, just to _intimidate_ them all the more."

Aysu laughed and stood up, twisting her braids into a bun at the base of her neck.

"Intimidation for you should be easy. All you have to do is leave your right hand bare. Show them just how _gloved _Yakuna's sharpest knife really is!"

Korra rolled her eyes, picking at the fabric of her gloves self-consciously.

"I'm not 'Yakuna's sharpest knife'."

"Debateable. But what _isn't_ debateable is that scars are definitely intimidating," She reached out and grabbed Korra's right wrist, pulling to towards her and yanking on the glove, "Just show it off for tonight. Please?"

Korra pouted and tried to yank her arm away. When Aysu didn't release her immediately she scowled and lashed out, landing a hit in Aysu's side that sent her stumbling, breath knocked from her. Korra pulled her arm away grinning.

"I think I can manage to be intimidating without a scar." Korra said happily, wiggling her fingers tauntingly. Aysu rolled her eyes and nodded towards their kitchenette, where a half-wrapped parcel that hadn't been there before was sitting on the counter.

"Facian dropped that off along with the papers. Said you'd know what it was for."

Korra got up and walked towards it, peeking through the folded paper. It was an unmarked tin, with '_M. F.'_ scrawled on the side with smudged black marker. Popping off the top, the bitter-sweet scent of willowberry tea filled her nose, making her cough at the strength of it.

"Huh," Korra said in surprise, "Why would Facian give me a painkiller tea?"

"So I guess you don't know what it's for."

"Yes I do, didn't you hear me? It's painkiller tea. It's for people in pain. I just don't know why Facian would think I'd need it."

Korra _did _in fact know why Facian was giving her the tea. The _M.F. _no doubt stood for _Moon Flower_. Renya must have asked him to get her some, and he knew that Korra would be able to get it to her sooner than him. Korra closed the tin and re-wrapped it in the paper, pushing it to the side. She would probably have time to drop by the Moon Flower tomorrow after work.

"Come on Su," Korra called on her way out the door, pulling on her dark jacket, "We need to make it to Bexley before sundown if we're going to get Naga and meet up with the others on time. Where's the meeting spot?"

"Platypus Bear Street."

"Then we _really_ need to leave now. Hurry up."

Korra laughed when she heard Aysu trip on her half-on pant leg.

.o.O.o.

Korra was pressed into the alleyway tightly, her back leaning against the great mass of fur that was Naga and her hands resting on the giant water pouch that was attached to her polar bear dog's saddle. Her instructions were simple enough. Some other Red Knife branch eights were herding the Agni Kais guarding the outer edges of the territory this way, where she, Aysu, and several others were waiting.

She fiddled with her pendant, a hallow red crescent moon that rested just below the neckline of her shirt, sure to keep it over the fabric. Most of the time she kept in tucked against her skin, out of sight, but tonight they wanted the Agni Kais to know exactly who was attacking them.

Suddenly a piercing whistle cut through the air, coming from Otter trail, echoing through the streets. Korra pushed off of Naga and peered out the mouth of the alley. For a moment there was nothing, but when a violent flash of fire burst from somewhere around the corner she stepped back to Naga's side. They were closer than she'd thought.

"Alright Naga," she whispered, throwing a leg over Naga's roughly made saddle and pulling herself on top, "Ready to get this show on the road?"

Naga grunted quietly in answer, her tail gently whipping back and forth. Korra laughed and tugged her right glove tighter against her skin. The white fabric seemed to reflect some of the light coming from the electric street lamps.

"Then let's have us a nice loud roar, huh?"

She felt the polar bear dog coil beneath her. She held her breath for an instant, until a stream of fire burst from just in front of the alley.

"Now girl."

Naga sprang forward, a roar tearing up from her great chest and through her bared teeth. The Agni Kais, about eight of them ranging from late teens to mid-twenties in age, stopped short at the sight, eyes going wide and the fires they held flaring larger. Korra kept her face carefully blank, looking down at them and leaning forward on Naga languidly.

"Hmm," she said lazily, "That's strange. What are a couple of rats doing in Red Monsoon territory, calling it theirs? I'd better clear them out."

She could hear the rest of the Red Knives pushing in closer, about a dozen of the eighth branch, waterbenders under the full moon. The Agni Kais only now seemed to be realizing just how outnumbered and outgunned they were. They retreated in on themselves. Korra saw one girl incline her head and whisper something to the others. For an instant they pressed closer together, shoulders touching, and then sprang forward, a good number going for what appeared to be the greatest threat. Korra.

Her hands darted out, fingers plucking the air in jerky, complicated motions. The three closest Agni Kais suddenly stopped; gasping as their fires flickered out and their muscles began to seize. She raised her hands, the firebenders rising into the air with their movement. One of the Agni Kais let out a pathetic sob and her fingers faltered.

_Enemy_. She reminded herself as she tightened her hands into tense fists. She watched as the one who had cried out, a boy of at least eighteen with a tattoo of a dragon on the back of his hand, as his eyes bulged and his mouth flapped, useless and silent. And then, with a faint crackling noise, none of them moved.

She bent away their bodies, piling them into the alleyway she had been hiding in moments before.

Two more approached her, one holding a knife in her trembling hand. With a growl she reached out and grabbed hold of the girl's blood, throwing her into the other Agni Kai with her arm holding the knife extended. He was down before the girl had a chance to scream, and before she could stop her own hand the knife had been plunged into her chest.

Korra let her drop and stared at the pair for a moment before turning to see the other three Agni Kais fall under the hands of the Knives. Her hands tightened on Naga's reigns as she watched Aysu walk out into the open, a coating of water covering her hands. She jerked her head towards the bodies.

"Clean up." She said shortly to several Knives, "When you hear the signal I want you to move further into the territory. There are still the ones further in that need to be taken care of. Korra," Aysu pointed straight at her, "I want your beast there leading a few minutes before everyone else, give the ash squatters something to aim at. Get rid of them if you can."

Korra nodded once, jerking Naga towards Otter Trail. The other Knives parted to let her pass, already carrying the bodies towards the bay where an unmarked boat waited to be taken out to the ocean.

"Run girl." Korra whispered. Naga began to speed up, the sound of her giant paws pounding on the pavement echoing through the streets. She was well into Otter Trail now, the houses becoming more extravagant with each passing meter and the yards getting more spacious as the owners got wealthier and wealthier. She gently slowed down, eyes scanning the shadows of well-maintained trees and shrubs for a sign of hidden Agni Kais.

She heard a quiet rustle behind her and barely spun around in time to deflect the flash of fire. A curtain of steam rose as the water hit the flames, obscuring her vision. She cursed under her breath and didn't wait for it to clear before moving.

Jerking her hands harshly, she grabbed for the nearby presence of water she could feel, and immediately there was a choking sound and the dull thump of a body hitting the pavement. The steam cleared, revealing fifteen or so Agni Kais, red scarves tied around their wrists and amber eyes staring at the fallen comrade in disbelief. Korra grinned widely when they turned to stare at her.

She took a deep breath, the strength of the full moon beating down on her, and moved her arms. Her reach extended all the way to the farthest members of their group. She could feel the push and pull of their bodies' water, moving in sync with their heartbeats. It echoed in her skull.

_Thud_

Push.

_Thump_

Pull

_Thud_

Push

_Thump_

Pull

She spread her arms and with a single movement plucked up the entire group, lifting them so their feet dangled a few inches off the ground. Her control wasn't perfect, the veins and arteries tightening too close to this muscle group and yanking this limb too far to the right, but it did its work. They couldn't move and soon, they would die.

This what Red Knives did.

They fought. They defended. They frightened. They killed.

They had proven their loyalty to the family, and they had been accepted as members.

And now there was no going back.

She smiled and slowly closed her fists, fingernails digging into her palms as she felt the outline of the Agni Kais' bodies within her senses. She was one of Yakuna's sharpest knives. A prodigy among prodigies.

"Like rotten fruit," she sang happily, loud enough for them all to hear, "That's what the flesh and blood of humans is like. Like a paper thin skin, soft enough to break with a fingernail, encasing flesh, watery flesh." She spread her fingers suddenly, the water within their bodies straining against their veins. Trying to reach her. One boy tried to cry out, but his mouth couldn't form a sound. A painful shiver ran down her arms and she forced a laugh, "I wonder," she continued, "What would happen to the fruit if the water were to expand just a little. How long could that pathetically weak skin hold out before it _pops_?"

She sounded hysterical. Out of her mind. Korra could hear herself, see herself moving her arms as if to try and test the theory she had voiced. But it was just an act to scare them with.

An _act_.

Wasn't it?

She swallowed hard, letting the maniacal grin drop from her face. She didn't want their deaths gruesome, that much, at least, she knew for sure. Their heartbeats pounded loudly to her senses, and just a little deeper she could feel their hearts. It would be a simple matter of a little tweak, force their hearts to make a mistake or two. A fatal mistake or two.

But then she met the eyes of one of the Agni Kais, a girl with wide brown eyes and black hair twisted back into a braid. Korra blinked, and suddenly she looked just like Ennai, the same upper lip that was twice as full as the bottom. Her temple throbbed violently, and the girl's face changed into something else. A face that Korra's heart ached for in longing, a girl named Ta Min, and yet she was sure she had never seen it before. Her hold loosened slightly and Ta Min's face vanished. It was the same Agni Kai as before, and she looked nothing like Ennai. Korra stared for just a moment longer, and then her arms fell limp at her sides.

The Agni Kais hardly had time to fall to the ground and choke for breath before Korra was pushing them along with whips of water that sprang from Naga's water sacks.

"Get out of here," she growled lowly, "and never come back. This is Red Monsoon territory. Don't forget it."

Not a single one of them bothered to argue before they took off running.

.o.O.o.

Korra was lounging on Naga's back in the shade of a great hedge that sat on the edge of a mansion's property, chewing on the end of an unlit cigarette when Aysu and the others caught up. Altogether, there were about two dozen members of Red Knife branch eight, ages ranging from Korra's seventeen to Kanshu's twenty six, and when they all crowded in some rich Water Tribe businessman's yard they looked more numerous than usual. Aysu's slanted eyes traced over the body lying on the pavement.

"Just one?" she asked, eyebrows creasing as she walked towards it, "I'd thought there'd be more than that."

"There were. About fifteen more. They ran off."

Aysu stopped short, turning sharply on her heel to face Korra.

"And you let them? What part of _get rid of them_ did you not understand?"

Korra sat up at her tone. Aysu was trembling, her eyes narrowed to tiny slits as she glared up at Korra.

"Does that matter? We were going for intimidation. I gave them a show of power, roughed them up a bit, and told them to get lost. I don't think they'll be coming back for a while."

Kanshu grabbed Aysu's arm before she could lunge.

"Su. Relax. I'm sure it doesn't matter if—"

"Shut up Kanshu," Aysu snapped, pushing off his hand, "I'll decide if it matters," She turned to the other members and jerked her chin towards the fallen Agni Kai, "Put him with the others, then go over the area and do a double clean up. I don't want to find a single speck of blood, a single hair, a single fingerprint! If I go over this area with a fine tooth comb I don't want to find it any different than it was last night. You hear me? We're not some stupid group of kiddies messing around. We're the big guys, the _Red Monsoons_. And the Red Monsoons don't leave evidence. Korra—" she pointed at the girl sitting on the polar bear dog, "You're on dumping duty. We'll talk about this when you get back."

Korra pouted, wrapping the reigns of her polar bear dog around her hand several times. No one liked the job of dumping bodies. They couldn't leave any evidence, so they had to be thorough, making sure there was no way they would wash into the bay, and if they did that they couldn't be identified. It was always grim work. But Korra still inclined her head in agreement all the same, giving a mock salute.

"You got it, _captain._"

.o.O.o.

Korra stifled a yawn on the back of her hand as she walked down the streets of the Candle Light Borough. The tin of willowberry tea was tucked in the pocket of her jacket, the harsh edge digging into her hip, but she hadn't shifted it since picking it up from the apartment. She should have gone to bed, put off the delivery for a few more hours so that she could get some rest, but after dumping duty she didn't think she could sleep. The memory of it still echoed in her mind sorely, of smashing teeth with a block of ice, wrapping them all up in the heavy chains, throwing them in the water miles outside of the bay into the open ocean. Korra didn't realize it until she was making her way back into the city, but her cheeks had been wet with tears. From the sting of sea salt, of course.

She'd almost been awake for twenty four hours. But she knew she couldn't sleep. She would stay awake until she passed out if she had to, but she didn't want to be alone in her dark bedroom with nothing to distract her from _dumping duty_.

Sidestepping a patch of destroyed concrete where some earth benders must have recently had a fight, she walked silently, head slightly bowed and only half watching the people on the side of the streets whose gazes followed her progress. Most people were used to the presence of the well-dressed Water Tribe girl in this particular borough, and those that weren't were quickly stopped others before they could approach her. She had made herself a reputation early on that she wasn't one who could be easily robbed or attacked. She didn't flash her red crescent moon pendant much, but it was common knowledge in the Candle Light Borough who she was, and what she was capable of. Even in the most dangerous part of the city, she was feared. She kept her gaze straight ahead, her mouth tightening.

The Moon Flower was a three story building that resided fairly deep inside the district, past more than a few not quite legal business establishments and sitting on the street corner of Rumah Street and Sundal Drive. The sign that swung above the door had no words, just a chipped painting of a white flower in bloom, and all the windows were crowded with mismatched candles, all extinguished in the morning light. When the sun set again and business opened, the candles would be lit, same with the candles in all of the other businesses' windows.

Korra ducked into the alleyway beside the Moon Flower, skirting around the overflowing dumpster to the side door. The door was unlocked, same as usual, and she entered without knocking.

"Renya!" she called into the empty hallway, pulling the tin from her pocket as she walked, "I have that tea you wanted."

A door flew open just in front of Korra, nearly hitting her, and Ennai's head popped out. She still wore the red dress of the Moon Flower, but the shawl of fabric that was usually worn over it was gone, exposing the fact that the dress didn't actually have a stomach and not much of a top to boot. She sighed in relief, reaching out to grab the tin.

"Thank goodness. We're out," she looked over her shoulder, "Zin!" she barked, waving the tea in the air, "Get to brewing this!"

There was a small crash and a curse, and then a girl of about twenty ran out of the room, short black hair sticking up messily and a nickel nose ring glinting on her face. She grabbed the red-stained tin and sprinted down the hallway without a glance in Korra's direction, scarlet skirts billowing behind her.

Ennai nodded and turned to go back into the room, but Korra grabbed her wrist before she could get through the door. She yanked the hand towards her, flipping it palm-up. A shiny red coating of blood covered it, definitely just shed.

"What's going on?" Korra asked, "Did one of the girls get attacked?"

Ennai pulled her hand away, tensing her wrist. For an instant the blood burst up into flames, leaving spots on Korra's vision, and burnt away to ash. There wasn't a single speck of blood or a single burn on Ennai's palms when she ran a hand through her hair, pushing it out of her face.

"Sort of," she said slowly, "You might as well come in and help. I don't suppose you've learned any healing since I last saw you?"

Korra shook her head. Ennai sighed, muttering under her breath 'of course not' and waved Korra into the candle-lit room.

Korra recognized it immediately as one of the Moon Flower's on-site rooms, where they took their customers, but it had been heavily altered. The bed that took up most of the room had been stripped of all its gaudy blankets and pillows, down to its white sheets. Bowls were piled on a makeshift table beside a large pot where a firebender was boiling water. There were several girls crowded inside the room, milling around silently, each working and cleaning and disinfecting.

And lying on the bed was an unconscious girl that Korra did not recognize. Her long black hair was tangled into snarls around her face and her pale skin was covered in minor cuts and bruises, those around her neck and wrists hauntingly resembling handprints. The modest purple dress she wore marked her as one who did not work at the moon flower, and spatters of blood seemed to have gotten everywhere, the heaviest stain spread over her side where Renya kneeled. The healing blue water she had there glowed strongly as she moved and bent, sweat beginning to gather on her brow. She jerked her head in Ennai's direction.

"Ennai, I need some new water."

Ennai nodded quickly and grabbed a handful of clean bandages from a waterbender standing by the door. She kneeled next to Renya, holding them ready.

"One," Ennai began slowly, "Two" she was nearly touching Renya's hands with the white gauze, "Three!"

In an instant Renya had pulled back her healing water, now turned a sickly orange-red colour with the absence of a healing glow, and Ennai pressed the bandages tightly to a deep-looking wound in the girl's side. A small red stain quickly began to spread across the crisp white bandages.

One of the waterbender girls took the dirty water from Renya, bending it into a large bowl in the corner while another girl quickly passed off clean water to her. Ennai and Renya's eyes met, and by some unseen cue they both moved, Ennai pulling back and Renya pushing forward. As the water began to glow again a gasp tore through the girl's lips, which quickly turned into a moan of pain.

"It hurts," she whispered, beginning to thrash around, "It hurts so much."

Ennai scowled, throwing the bloodied bandages in the air and burning them to dust.

"Damn it," she said, glancing at the door, "She's awake again. Where's Zin?"

The girl who had been cleaning the dirt that was ground into some of the girl's wounds, Sumak, leaned forward and placed a hand on her cheek. The girl's thrashing slowed slightly, and her wide green eyes managed to focus on Sumak's face, although they were bleary and shining.

"It hurts." She said again, her voice crackling. Sumak nodded in understanding.

"I know sweetheart," she said softly, "I know. We're doing everything we can. I just need you to tell me who you are. Okay? What's your name?"

But the girl was shaking her head, her breath coming in sharp gasps.

"No," she said, her voice rising to a scream, "I won't tell you. We did nothing wrong. We did nothing wrong!" She lashed out; her arm hitting Sumak across the face. The sheets bunched and slid over the mattress as she began to roll back and forth, a sheen of sweat covering her face as she repeated that 'we did nothing wrong'. Over and over, volume rising and falling with a gasping voice.

Sumak nursed her cheek, glancing up at Ennai.

"Sorry," Sumak said quietly, dodging another panicked strike the girl threw at her, "She's still delirious. Should I put her out?"

Ennai glanced at the door and sighed, mumbling something about Zin being incompetent at boiling water.

"Yes," she said, "That's probably best."

Sumak nodded and coiled, elbow pulling back behind her shoulder. Her hand jabbed forward, her entire body moving with the force of it, and into the girl's neck hard. With one last strangled sob, the girl collapsed back on the table, unconscious. Korra's jaw dropped.

"Ennai." Renya said.

Ennai instantly grabbed more bandages, and they repeated their actions from before, the dirty water replaced for clean. Korra stared around, the girls all engrossed with their jobs, moving as if this was something they did every day. It almost looked like they were healers instead of ladies of the night, their scarlet clothing looking for all the world like blood-stained nurse robes.

"What's going on?" She asked at last, leaning back and pressing against the wall beside the door, "What happened to this girl?"

Ennai stood up, again burning up the blood and bandages.

"Well. I found h—" she started, but at that moment the door flew open, crashing into the hallway's wall as Zin sprinted in with a teapot clutched between her hands.

"I'm here—"

The pot slipped from her fingers.

Korra jerked forward, reaching out and bending the tea automatically. The red-brown liquid came free from the pot, the ceramic shattering on the floor and the tea hovering a foot above it, quivering slightly. Ennai laughed and slapped Korra on the shoulder, making the tea buckle slightly.

"Nice catch," she said. She pointed at Zin, "And there was really no point in rushing. You were too late anyways. Sumak took care of it."

Zin blushed bright red, ducking her head.

"Oh." She said quietly. Ennai rolled her eyes and flicked a spark at her.

"Never mind," she said, "Just clean it up. Do we have any clean bowls to put the tea into?"

And then they were all busy again. Scrambling for bowls and cleaning and disposing of water. Pressing bandages and clearing dirt. Burning away blood and heating the pot. When the tea was no longer being held up by Korra's bending, she stood at the back, staring at the girls work and feeling utterly useless. Silently she ducked through the door and started down the hallway. She could wait a while to find out what happened. She wasn't going home yet anyways.

.o.O.o.

"I found her this morning," Ennai explained later, fingers curled around a cup of chai tea, "I was on my way home from a specialty call for some rich businessman and saw her collapsed at the side of the street, bleeding. So I carried her back here."

"Any idea what happened to her?" Korra asked, poking at her bowl of rice with little appetite. The girl had been stabilized, or at least wasn't in any immediate danger of bleeding to death anymore, and Renya had headed out to the hospital to try and get a real healer. One with actual training, rather than Renya's loose, basic knowledge. Some had stayed behind to watch the girl, and the rest had gone to dinner before heading to bed. Only Korra, Ennai, and Sumak remained now.

"Well," Ennai said slowly, "She had pretty clearly been attacked by a waterbender, judging by her injuries and the way she reacted to seeing Renya when we first brought her in. Took one look at her eyes and just started screaming and thrashing. Same with all of the waterbenders that were helping. We've had to keep her knocked out with that painkiller to keep her from attacking them. The fact that Renya asked Facian to get us more yesterday was an extremely lucky coincidence," she rubbed her eye, "I'm actually surprised anyone got advantage of that girl at all. Even with her injuries all of us together couldn't hold her down until Sumak gave her little 'touch of living death'. He must have been some bender."

Sumak reached over Korra's dish and grabbed a piece of bread from the bowl that was on Korra's other side. She lightly jabbed at her arm in annoyance. The young girl rolled her eyes and took a bite out of her bread.

"She kept muttering things in a weird language, and Zin told me that it sounded sort of like Fire Nation dialect," Sumak mentioned through a mouthful of crumbs, "Which is strange considering her eyes are pretty distinctly earth Kingdom. If she's mixed blood it wouldn't surprise me that she was attacked. A lot of people don't really like the idea of crossing the Nations."

"We can't be sure of that though," Ennai said, "She could be adopted into a Fire Nation family, or live in a Fire Nation area of the city. We don't really know all that much about her. It seems whoever attacked her made a point to strip her of any identification, and she can't tell us her name just yet. Renya actually suspects there might be some sort of mild hallucinogenic drug in her system at this point. We'll find out when we get her into the hospital."

"Oh? You're putting her in residence?"

"Of course we are. She could die otherwise."

"I know. It's just… can you really afford that?"

"It doesn't matter." Ennai said, brushing her hair back from her face as she looked down at her bowl of rice.

"Yes, it does. If you can't afford it then she won't be allowed to stay. Such is the way of this _noble _city."

Ennai put a hand over Korra's, glaring at her through thick lashes.

"I know what you're thinking, and no you are not paying. You give us far too much to us every month as it is. We have resources that we can use for this."

Korra pouted into her bowl, stirring the rice around so the brown peanut sauce coated it more completely, not a single white grain left.

"It's not like there's anything I'm going to spend it on," she muttered into her bowl. Sumak cocked her head to the side.

"Nothing? Well, isn't there at least someone else you could give it to?"

For an instant Korra thought of scared brown eyes and frail arms, spread to protect. She closed her eyes and shook her head.

"No," she said firmly, "There's no one else I want to give it to." She looked up and smiled ruefully at Ennai, "Couldn't you just pretend it's money for supper plus a tip?"

"I don't believe I could." Ennai said dryly, nibbling on a piece of chicken, "Besides, she was all the way over at Otter Trail. If she's from there, then all we'd have to do is find out who she is and her parents should be more than capable of covering the medical expenses. You don't need to worry about that."

Korra's chopsticks fell from her fingers.

"Otter trail?" Korra squeaked. No. That couldn't be possible, "But Otter trail is where all those wealthy Water Tribe folks live, isn't it? What was she doing _there_ in that condition?"

There was no way it had been a Red Monsoon.

Sumak shrugged.

"Rich people are just as likely as poor people to be bad. Sometimes more likely."

Korra's hand slowly rested on her chest, right over her rank pendant. It couldn't have been. The only Red Monsoons that had been in Otter Trail last night had been branch eights. She knew all of those people, they were her friends. There was no way one of them would do something like this. There was _no way_.

Was there?

"Hey, you alright?" Sumak said, poking Korra's arm, "You look like you saw a ghost."

Her hand fell away from her pendant, Korra's eyes blinking hard as she concentrated on looking less horrified. She smiled at Sumak, forcing her leg to stop bouncing.

"I'm fine," she said, "Just a little tired."

Korra glanced over at Ennai, letting the smile drop from her face when she was turned away from Sumak. She reached her hand up again and tapped her pendant once.

Ennai's loom of confusion became one of surprise as she realized what Korra was telling her, and then a scowl as she nodded once.

The Red Monsoons had been in Otter Trail last night. And it was more than likely that they were to blame.

**Aaaaaand cut…**

**So. This is late. So very late. It was actually done weeks ago, pretty much like this to those who remember when it was posted for all of one day. But have you ever written something and just been so not happy with it you can't stand to look at it? That basically happened. So I rewrote it. Aysu didn't exist at all, replaced with Huka, who you probably remember from the Blue Lantern timeline. Or maybe not. It has been a while. And I still wasn't happy. So I rewrote it again. And then one more time. And then I just went back to the way it was before and edited it a bit, because honestly it was the one I disliked the least.**

**And now this is what you get. I'm sorry for anything that is just not good. Also the wait. It hurt me too.**

**Edit: and yes, that's Asami. Not another random OC.**


	7. Fire Fever

There was something about the way the jazz fizzled out of the radio that made Korra more agitated, her fists pounding into the fabric of the punching bag a little more violently with every beat of the music.

The gym was mostly empty despite it being barely the afternoon. There were some people working with dumbbells in the corner, a couple others doing squats in the middle of the floor, and one other guy attacking a punching bag next to hers with quick, practiced strikes. Everyone was politely ignoring each other.

Korra curved her arm back and rammed her elbow into the bag, spinning with the motion and slamming down a poorly-formed kick before it could swing back into place. The motion jarred her knee a little; the bag remained unfazed. Korra sighed, gently placing her hand against the rough fabric, and shut her eyes, wishing she could crawl inside the bag's stuffing and just stay there for the rest of the week.

_The air temple was cold and barren, uninhabited for far too long. She ran her fingers over the stone wall, feeling the cracks that should never have had the chance to creep across the stone. A curable disease that had instead been left to fester. This was wrong._

The memory blinked away as Korra opened her eyes. The punching bag stared back at her innocently. Had she dozed off? She rolled her shoulders, flicking her fingers to try and make her blood feel less sluggish in her veins as she bounced on her toes and set up for another attack on the punching bag. Her gloved fist slapped the fabric with a sharp popping noise; the bag laughing at her efforts.

Once, back in her Blue Lantern days, a Red Knife initiate named Sikuk had attacked a young Water Tribe nonbender. Korra remembered that day, the girl's screams. Huka and Kanshu had had to keep her away. Sikuk wasn't someone anyone should get involved with, they had explained. He was the most dangerous kind of Red Monsoon. The kind that hadn't joined for family, or debt, or loyalty, or even money. Sikuk had joined for the enjoyment of the job.

Korra and Huka had found the girl the next morning.

Korra had been violently sick in the bay.

Her shoes squeaked as her punches became sharper, yet weaker as she concentrated more closely to her attacks, stealing the movements from her instincts and letting her conscious mind guide her fists where she wanted them. She let the angles of her knuckles' strikes distract her from Sikuk, and girls left broken for dead.

Of course Korra was aware that many members of her Triad did less than savoury things when they weren't working. It wasn't like she and her friends hadn't gotten up to some stuff they shouldn't have on their days off. But there was a line you should never cross. And someone had crossed that line with the girl in the Moon Flower.

And worse yet, someone she knew and trusted had crossed that line.

But no, she was getting ahead of herself. There was still a chance that it _hadn't_ been a member of branch eight. Otter Trail was full of rich waterbenders, and just like Sumak said, rich people were just as likely as poor people to be bad.

But they had been there. _She_ had been there. Faces and names flitted through her mind without permission, getting a firm rejection each time.

Not Kanshu, he was too serious about work. And there was no way Jikuok had done it, since he was completely terrified of girls. Kailan was so geared towards Water Tribe he probably wouldn't want to breathe the same air as a green-eyed girl. She and Taku used to steal apples together from the market, every Sunday after their pickpocketing rounds. Irik and Bo and Kota and Naq and Hiryu and Due and Kinto, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Korra yelled sharply, the note skyrocketing to a squeak on the back of her tongue as she drove her foot into the punching bag hard. Her knee buckled under her, and she fell forward into the bag, crumpling onto the floor like a discarded piece of fabric as her fingernails stiffly failed to find a grip on the canvas. The punching bag let her fall to her knees, indifferent.

However many times she went through names in her head, there wasn't a single person in branch eight she could bring herself to believe was even remotely capable of _that_. Of being like Sikuk.

Korra felt bile rise in her throat. Another headache began to come on…

"Hey, Miss?"

There was a boy's voice. Korra slowly lifted her head, blinking slowly as she looked up. There was a hand, resting on the rough fabric. The bag bent around his light touch obediently. Her eyebrow twitched in annoyance.

"What?" Korra snapped. The boy flinched back, swiping his hand away from the bag, though the dent remained. The bag swayed slightly, whining for his touch to return. He scratched the back of his head, and Korra recognized him as the boy who had been working out on the punching bag nearby.

"I—_nothing_ really. I just—well I was _wondering_—" He swallowed, kneeling down in front of her, "Are you… alright?"

His eyes were a light green. She shivered, turning her face away.

"Ya," she muttered, "Fantastic."

The boy jumped to his feet as she stood, his hand half extended as if unsure whether or not he should help her. Korra ignored him, re-wrapping the Velcro on her gloves and lifting her fists. The boy took a step back, but did not leave.

She stared at the bag blankly for a moment. It stared back. Her hands lowered slowly, torn on whether to try to hit the bag into cooperation again or to let it win. Her knee was throbbing, her shoulders and wrists complaining loudly. Her eyelashes, made of lead, seemed to be dragging her eyes shut, heavier and heavier with each passing second. The punching bag grinned.

Hands were on her shoulders.

"Whoa!" the boy said. His voice raised a few decibels, "You're not gonna pass out, are you?"

"Of course not," Korra muttered, jerking her shoulders out from under his hands, "I'm just—," just…just what? What. What was she? She tried again.

"I'm just—." again she trailed off. The boy frowned, putting a hand back onto her shoulder. She didn't shake it off.

"Just?" he prompted. He sounded concerned. Korra wondered why. He didn't need to sound concerned. She could take care of herself. She was a member of branch eight, one of Yakuna's sharpest knives. A Red Monsoon. Strong. A bender.

She was the Avatar

The boy blurred.

A new song began to play.

She was tired.

And then all at once…she was bliss.

The punching bag laughed

.o.O.o.

The girl was _dead._

Okay, so she wasn't really _dead_, exactly. He could see that she was _alive_. But when you got down to it, she wasn't much different from a dead person when she was sprawled on the ground like that, not moving and hardly breathing. Her dark, sweat-sheened skin seemed pallid against the black tile floor, making her look for all the world like a cooling corpse.

Bolin took a step away from her, glancing over his shoulder at the mostly-empty gym. No one spared a second glance at them, and one girl giggled loudly before turning her back completely. He frowned, crossing his arms in front of his chest. What was _that _supposed to mean?

"What happened here?"

Bolin started, turning back around to find the gym owner standing over the girl. The man's stomach strained on the buttons of his shirt as he bent over; looking down at her through sleepy, hallow eyes with pupils so big the blue could have easily been mistaken for dark brown. Bolin swallowed, trying to remember the owner's name. All he was coming up with was the word 'Cork', but that couldn't _possibly_ be the right name…

The man straightened up, a shiny silver nameplate on his chest proudly flashing 'Cork Nuook'.

"Well?" Cork asked, raising a dark eyebrow at him. Bolin tore his eyes away from the nameplate, his feet tingling unpleasantly as he shifted his weight.

"I—well I'm not _re_ally sure. She was kind of…" Bolin mimed the motion of punching an invisible bag, "And then she sort of just…" He glanced down at her, "…fell?"

Cork snorted, his dangling neck swaying with the movement.

"You don't sound so sure of that."

"She fell," Bolin amended quickly, "She definitely fell."

Oh, you could trust that she _fell_, Bolin wanted snap at Cork. The only definite in this entire situation was that she _fell. _Other than that, he couldn't really tell the man much more than was visibly obvious to anyone. She was Water Tribe, she was sick. Bolin looked down again, eyes lingering on the soft line of her jaw.

She was pretty.

Cork kneeled down in front of her. At first Bolin thought he would do the basic healer practices that almost everyone knew: test skin temperature, check pulse, and attempt to shake her awake, but instead Cork reached for her shirt collar, dangerously close.

He spared Bolin a fleeting glance, looking him up and down in appraisal, then shrugged, pinching a leather cord between his fingers and yanking a long necklace out of the girl's shirt. The red moon crescent pendant swung in the air for a moment, light playing across its polished surface. Cork grabbed it and turned it over in his fingers, revealing a tiny 8 carved into the material. He clicked his tongue, nodding slightly, and stood, letting the pendant drop onto the floor.

Cork turned to go, but Bolin jerked forward and grabbed his coat sleeve. He glanced down at Bolin's hand, a frown making his jowls hang a touch lower on his round face. Bolin flushed, yanking his hand away quickly.

"Uh…" he swallowed, setting his feet, "I'm no healer or nothing, but shouldn't she go to a hospital?"

Cork laughed quietly, shaking his head.

"Don't you know who that _is_?"

Bolin stared.

"…Does that matter?"

Cork laughed again, louder this time.

"_Clearly_," he said, waving a hand at the unconscious girl, "She doesn't want to go to the hospital."

The girl suddenly shuddered violently, curling in on herself.

"How could you _pos_sibly know that?" Bolin asked.

Cork shrugged, straightening the collar on his shirt. A red ring glinted on his right hand.

"How indeed," he said, turning to leave again, "You should leave now. She's no longer your concern."

"_What_?"

The high-pitched squeak Bolin let out turned a couple of heads, but Cork kept walking. He disappeared behind a door marked 'Employees only'.

Another shuddering breath wracked the girl's body, and with one last dirty look at where Cork had disappeared, Bolin kneeled beside her. He placed the back of his hand on her forehead.

It was uncomfortably hot. Unnaturally hot.

He frowned. She almost felt as warm as…

Bolin had one of her hands clasped between two of his own before he could tell himself it was impossible. He had to hold back a cry of surprise at the sharp pain, dropping her hand back onto the floor.

Light pink burns gently spotted his palms.

He stared. She'd _burned_ him. _Through_ the fabric of her gloves. And as for her sickness…

Well, Bolin knew a firebender's fever when he saw one.


	8. Delirious Enemies

She was working.

Or at least, she thought she was working. It felt like work, her hands passing over the motions in an easy routine that she couldn't imagine being any different. And she knew, she _knew_, that this was what work was. But at the same time she was completely aware that she had absolutely no knowledge of how to make _Earth Kingdom _pottery.

She shifted her feet into an easy stance and curved her hand in something reminiscent of water bending, only slower and stronger in her movements. The clay curved, bending without her touching it. This was not strange, even as a thrill of surprise shot through her. The clay easily shaped into a jar, its edges compressing into a language she couldn't read. It said "The Spirits of the Solstice Bless the Rising Moon".

Korra blinked, reaching up to touch the skin beside her eyes. But her arms did not move except to reach out for a fine wooden tool that she held like a paintbrush to carefully carve the crest of the Northern Water Tribe into the clay.

Someone entered the tent from behind her, for indeed she was in some kind of pottery tent with rickety shelves lined with bowls and jars she knew her own hands had created.

She turned and smiled at the aged woman with sun darkened skin and deep set brown eyes.

"My dear wife," Korra said in a decidedly masculine voice, "Is something the matter?"

Korra was starting to feel a flutter of panic in her chest, contrasting sharply with a sense of calm the she (he?) was feeling in the presence of his wife. Impossibly, she was two people at once.

The woman—wife—smiled and shook her head.

"The children suffer from hunger and you are missing from our fireplace."

"Oh my," Korra glanced around at the darkening tent, "I did not know the time. Just let me—" she reached out her hands, and with a sharp movement sent a stream of fire from her fingers, engulfing the clay pot. The woman turned her face away from the heat, wrinkling her nose in annoyance as she waited for the flames to stop.

"Are you quite done then?" she asked, her voice impatient.

"Finished," Korra said, letting the fire disappear into air as she picked up the newly hardened jar, unbothered by the heat, "Wonderful, isn't it? I made it for my waterbending sifu. She'll be pleased, don't you think?"

The woman bristled. "Oh yes. She'll be _thrilled_."

Korra laughed and placed the jar on a shelf between two others of a similar design. She curled an arm around the woman's waist and led her out of the tent, emerging into some sort of village no more than ten houses large and surrounded by deep Earth Kingdom forests. Home, a strange new place, foreign and native all at once, jumping back and forth until Korra's head spun uncomfortably fast. She struggled without moving. Struggling to pull her arm away from the strange woman, to stop speaking in a language she had no knowledge of, to stop feeling the earth tremble quietly beneath her feet, because this wasn't her. _This wasn't her_.

Suddenly she felt like she was falling backwards, her arms flailing to catch her before she slammed into the dirt path. Her weight alighted down gently, without even a sudden stop to jar her about. Sitting up as quickly as she could, she stared at the woman who had continued to walk without her, as if nothing had happened. A man had his arm around her waist now, dressed in Earth Kingdom animal pelts and with a long grey beard hiding most of his face. Korra placed a hand over her racing heart, but felt nothing under her fingertips but the rapid rise and fall of her breath. No heartbeat at all.

The contradicting thoughts had stopped battling in her head, and as she stood up and chased after the couple, she could no longer understand the language they spoke.

"Hey!" she shouted. They didn't look back at her. "Hey!" she said a little louder, "What's going on?"

The couple continued, oblivious. Korra huffed in annoyance, reaching out a hand towards them to try and get their attention.

Her hand passed through the woman's shoulder like burying it into fine, fine sand, prickly grit scratching at her skin as she pressed forward and through. Korra jerked back with an alarmed cry. The woman didn't even blink.

"What the—" Korra stared. They had reached a large central fire, surrounded by other Earth Kingdom folk all chatting happily as they stirred several pots sitting on the fire. They all cheered when they saw the potter, friendly slaps on the back and playful scolds, Korra assumed for being late. Children wove between legs, several approaching the potter timidly. One light-haired girl shyly tugged on his pant leg, making him kneel down so she could whisper wetly into his ear. He smiled and ruffled her tangled hair.

"Adorable, isn't it?"

Korra let out a small scream, the voice in her ear speaking clear common tongue without the barest hint of an accent. She spun, snapping into a defensive waterbending stance, but she still almost fell over in surprise when she saw the Air Nomad garbs and tattoos.

"F—" she couldn't seem to form the word. Swallowing hard, she scowled, tightening her hands into fists and trying again, "Who the _hell_ are _you?_"

The Air Nomad shook his head in amusement.

"Oh, I think you know perfectly well who _I _am, Korra," his smile dipped slightly as he looked her over, "You have no idea how hard it was to get here. Those walls you put up are impressive. Annoying. But impressive."

There was a round of laughter around the fire at something someone had said. Korra was choking on her panic.

"What is this?" she said, "A dream? And who _are _you?!"

"This is a memory," the Air Nomad said with a shrug, "From a past life of yours. Just a happy, ordinary memory. People are apparently less guarded against happy memories after passing out from exhaustion. Ah yes, and my _name_," He grinned, "Is Avatar Aang. It's nice to finally meet you, Korra."

.o.O.o.

Korra screamed bloody murder, her muscles seizing up as her eyes shooting open. She felt her fingertips growing hot like embers against blankets that were fisted in her hands desperately.

Where was she? The trees were gone, the village and fire and laughing children. Gone and quiet, no more words in some language she didn't know or unfamiliar soil under her feet. All the sights and sounds were replaced by white and blank and her pounding brain. She covered her ears with desperate fingers, trying to stop the noise. It only grew worse, higher and faster until a room began to spin in her vision, the white ceiling stretching out forever until it turned into walls. Her stomach churned.

Where was she?

A wintery touch grazed her forehead, and Korra flinched away from the bite, a ragged gasp stopping her screams short. Her breath whooshed back out in wracking coughs. She was chocking, her attempts to breath between coughs making a high, desperate keening noise, like she was a trapped rabbit squirrel screaming in a last ditch effort to avoid slaughter at the hands of an eagle hawk. The frosty touch disappeared, but the screams continued.

"Stop it," A shaking voice shouted, volume rising to be heard over the gasping shrieks, "Stop. I don't know what—I said _stop it _dammit."

Icy water broke over Korra's face. The shock of cold stopped her breath for a moment. She sat straight up in her bed, gasping a lungful of harsh, coarse air. This time, when she breathed, her chest rose and fell with only a light rasping, her fear dripping in cold trails of water down her neck, her hysteria soaking into her white shirt until it was clear and stuck to her like a second skin. Aysu stood above her, an empty metal bucket clutched in her hands.

Korra stared up at her, ears ringing a little more quietly. For a moment nothing dared to move except for the mute drip of water droplets rolling off the side of the empty bucket. Aysu's eyes were wide and bloodshot, makeup smudged under her eyes like she had been crying.

Korra smoothed her gloved fingers over the soaking wet blue cotton of her blanket. She was in her room. Home. Safe. She felt her heartbeat slow in her neck, an actual _proper_ heartbeat. A dream, it had just been a bad dream. It hadn't been real.

Her temples ached with visions of Air Nomads.

"What was that for?" Korra finally croaked, brushing back a soaked strand of hair. Her voice rolled sorely in her chest.

Aysu scowled.

"For scaring the _shit_ out of me," she said, "Why were you screaming like that?"

Korra shivered, a droplet of water rolling down her nose.

"I—," she bit her lip, "It was just a bad dream."

Aysu scoffed, "A bad dream? Must have been one hell of a bad dream. You sounded like you were being _murdered._" Aysu bent over and slammed the empty bucket onto the ground. It looked as if she had begun to take off her coat, even getting both arms out of the sleeves, but then forgotten about it half way through; leaving it clinging limply to her waist by the buttons she'd only half undone. She straightened stiffly, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh dear," she said sarcastically, "It seems we're out of water. I'll go get some more."

Korra flinched as Aysu slammed the door behind her. The cold of the water had begun to sink into her, and she shivered violently, unsteadily bending herself dry. Her skin felt chalky as she carefully twisted the ribbon of water into the bucket on the ground, and her blankets were stiff as she let her hands drop back down onto her lap. Korra took several deep breaths through her nose, trying to stop the spinning and ringing. This was her room. There was the raised spot on her wall where they'd had to plaster over a hole. Aysu had somehow managed to put her foot through it about a year ago. Korra couldn't even remember why, or _how_. But now it was there, a tiny scar hiding under light blue paint. The same as it had always been since the paint had dried way back then. The sameness was comforting, like it was pretending that everything was okay and unchanged. Korra slowly laid back down, head spinning at the movement. A feverous chill ran through her.

The door banged open, slamming into the wall with a loud _crack_ as Aysu marched back in, a steaming mug cupped in her hands. She walked up to Korra and thrust it towards her, orange-brown liquid slopping over the side.

"Here," she snapped, "For your fever."

Korra took the cup numbly.

"Oh," she said, looking into the murky drink that smelt of citrus, "I'm sick." She raised an unsteady hand to her temple. Korra could count the number of times she'd been sick on the fingers of one hand. In a Water Tribe area of town illness didn't tend to prosper, healers and remedies for everything under the midnight sun lining the streets day in and day out. Virtually nothing spread, and sniffles could be cured within a day. Almost everyone knew at least a little about healing. Almost everyone, that is, with the conspicuous exception of Aysu.

"Yes, you're sick" Aysu snapped, "Congratulations on noticing. Anything else you'd like to tell me? The year? My name, perhaps?"

Korra pouted up at Aysu, taking a loud sip from the tea, "You're angry at me."

_WHAM_

Korra almost dropped her tea, staring up at Aysu where she trembled, her fist remaining pressed against the wall.

"No," Aysu said, strangling on the word, "Of course not. Why would you think that?"

Korra was silent. Aysu pulled her fist away from the wall and cradling it against her chest.

"Why would I be angry at you?" She continued calmly, her voice rising with each word, "You didn't _do_ anything. Except disappeared after a job_._ And didn't tell anyonewhere you went. And hell, if you're going to scare the hell out of all of us, why not do it while getting lots of exercise _at the bloody gym_." Aysu hiccupped, quickly covering her mouth with a hand. Her eyes were shiny. Korra frowned.

"Has…something happened?"

Aysu took a shuddering breath, snapping her shaking hands into fists. Her eyes became half-lidded, almost sleepy as she made her face carefully blank. Korra's hands chilled, and she looked down to find a coating of frost over the surface of her tea.

"They're dead," Aysu said, each sound enunciated, "Kilee and Irik. They're dead," She turned to glare at Korra, "And I thought _you_ were dead, you idiot."

Korra's jaw dropped.

"_What?_" she sputtered, clutching her frozen tea, "Who—"

"No," Aysu interrupted harshly, and Korra is taken aback. No? It _had_ to have been murder. There was no such thing as freak accidents or illness in the Red Monsoons. Aysu cleared her throat and continued hesitantly, "I mean… it wasn't the Agni Kais. At least they don't think it was."

Korra frowned.

"…Triple Threats?"

The Triple Threats and Red Monsoons didn't often cross paths, a strip of Agni Kai territory acting as an effective barrier between them most of the time, but attacks weren't unheard of. Aysu gnawed on her lip.

"Well, no. They're saying—" she paused, frowning, "I mean _Facian_ said that it looks like it may have been a group of nonbenders. It's completely ridiculous, but…"

"…but that's what the signs are pointing towards." Korra finished. Always signs, she thought, pointing the fingers for you in directions you don't want them to go. Nonbenders kill waterbenders and waterbenders attack nonbenders. She closed her eyes, wishing the signs could leave her alone for just once as the ache in her temple started pounding again.

Aysu was shaking her head, ever so slightly.

"But _Nonbenders_? Irik and Kilee are _warriors_. There's no way they could possibly have been bested by a bunch of _chi_ blanks like that," Aysu scratched her chin, "If you ask me Ranshao finally got a brain on him, or at least hired someone else with one. He's obviously trying to lead us off the Agni Kais…"

"But why would he have a sudden change in tactics?" Korra argued, clearing her throat as her voice croaked painfully, "That guy's famous for never changing his mind."

Aysu raised her eyebrows.

"But his _nephew_'s not. There might be some new leadership coming into the Agni Kais soon. Either way, Yakuna's spooked," she rolled her eyes to the ceiling, "You're the only one who's getting out of our first bending-free training tonight. Kanshu stopped by earlier and gave you the night off," she glanced down at Korra, "You're welcome for that, by the way."

Korra swallowed, leaning over and placing her steaming tea on the nightstand.

"Thanks Su," she muttered, slowly laying back into her pillow. The movement made her stomach flip, and Korra thought she was going to be sick for a moment before the nausea passed.

Aysu shook her head.

"Don't thank me until after I've paid you back for this. I swear, I'll have you doing my paperwork for a month for scaring me like that," she bent over and tugged the final buttons loose on her jacket with unsteady hands, letting the blue fabric fall to the floor, "I'm going to bed." She said quietly, stepping out of the pool of cloth, "I'm pretty sure Facian told me something about you sleeping on your side so if you throw up you won't suffocate. Be sure to do that."

The floor creaked under Aysu's footsteps as she walked away.

"Hey, Su."

Aysu paused, glancing over her shoulder.

"What?"

"Where were… the bodies found?"

Silence stretched between them for a moment, Korra picking at the seam of her blanket.

"I'm not sure," she said, "The industrial area, I think."

Korra felt her pulse slow, her heart sighing in relief.

"Oh," she said softly, trying not to let the relief show in her voice, "Alright."

Aysu groaned, letting her shoulders hunch. She rubbed the back of her neck with a wide yawn. Korra smiled.

The worst of hurricane Aysu was over.

"Night," Aysu muttered, dragging her feet out the door.

Korra stared at the door for several seconds after Aysu was gone.

Steam rose from the tea in hot, curling tendrils.

_**YOU HONESTLY CANNOT FATHOM HOW SORRY I AM ABOUT HOW LONG IT TOOK TO GET THIS OUT. **_**I was having an indecisive breakdown or something. The number of drafts and different directions I wrote this chapter into isn't even funny. I would be seriously surprised if there are less than 30000 words in the folder for chapter 8 (no really I gave it its own folder).**

**Good news: I've outlined the rest of the story in detail. Hopefully this hiccup won't happen again.**

**I made some changes to chapter 6, 7 (several times) and actually I'm trying to fix chapter six because I read it over and proceeded to slam my head on the desk in hopes of forgetting about it. **

**Didn't work.**

**Alsoimayhavehadanactualmenta lbreakdownwithdoctorsandphon ecallsandthepoliceitwasreall ystressfulandithinkifilooked icouldfindadraftofthischapte rinwhichkorrakillsherselfser iouslyangstwascomingoutthewa zoo**


	9. The Trap

It took three days and three nights for Korra to get better. At least that's how long she pretended it took. By the second day she was feeling fine, the flash sickness gone without as much as a cough to remember it by. But Aysu had seen her at her worst, and that alone gave her enough leeway to fake sickness twice more, staying in bed until she heard Aysu slam the door shut on her way out.

As Aysu's grumblings about extra training faded down the hallway and into the stairwell, Korra was free to exit her room and lounge around the apartment as she pleased. There wasn't much to do but listen to the radio and read the paper, so she ended up spending most of her time sleeping anyways, but something about lazing around at home when she knew that she should have been working made it all the more relaxing. It was like a sort of vacation, safe from the drumming rain and the chill-edged warmth of almost-summer.

That night's probending game shouted from the radio as Korra tied her hair back from her face, some team called the Fire Ferrets apparently meeting their 'toughest test yet' against the Golden Temple Tigerdillos. Shinobi sounded thoroughly impressed by the rookie Ferret team.

Korra opened the floor-length curtains with a flourish, revelling in the fact that she could do so without Aysu yelling at her to close them again. She leaned over to turn up the radio a little. Shinobi was giving himself an aneurism as he started to cheer on some kid named Bolin like a delirious fan. His excitement was contagious, and Korra could feel an extra sing to her movements as she spun back towards the windows.

The tall glass panes reflected a greyed version of her home. Korra bowed towards her image with a small grin, making faces at her slightly more tired looking doppelganger. Some of the glass became see-through again as she got close. Pausing in the middle of baring her teeth like a lion-monkey spirit, Korra stared out at the night's skyline of Republic City. Lights of varying shades of yellow, white, blue, and orange winked back at her, as if to make up for the stars that were hidden by rainclouds. In the distance, the probending arena shined like a golden beacon.

Shinobi was shouting as the Fire Ferrets' firebender was knocked out of the ring.

Her hand had reached out and unlocked the sliding door leading out to the balcony before she could think better of it, stepping out into the smell of heavy rain. Outside, the arena glowed brighter, its light cutting through storm's air sharply.

"Round 2," her radio shouted from inside, voice carrying over the doorway cheerfully. The bell sang out, but its note was almost immediately interrupted by a buzzer announcing that a team has already been knocked back a zone.

"The Fire Ferrets are knocked into Zone Two and the Tigerdillos advance," Shinobi said. Korra frowned, bouncing up onto her toes, cement balcony digging into the skin of her bare feet painfully. Her fists rose up beside her ears, eyes locked on the distant arena.

"Bolin strikes with a sharp jab!"

She lashed out hard, a strip of rain suddenly spraying back from her balcony in an explosion of water. Korra laughed, pulling back quickly.

"Two quick hits from Shaozu."

Two large handfuls of water were drawn from the air, flying from Korra's fingers like discuses as she swung her arms wide.

"And a finishing combo by Hasook!"

Her feet scraped harshly as Korra spun on the spot, kicking high and around towards the Republic City sky. The raindrops trembled around the kick, losing their speed and swarming together like confused insects for a moment before continuing towards the ground.

"The Fire Ferrets cinch the round in the closing seconds!"

Korra whooped a cheer, throwing her arms up in victory. A spray of water flew back from the sheet of rain at her movement, making her jump back with a peal of laughter. The storm roared and crashed through the sky in perfect beat with Shinobi's dialog, and Korra imagined the rain was a cheering crowd. She closed her eyes and tilted her face up, taking in their praise. They loved her, they were proud of her and wanted her to win, and she would win, one more round and she would win—.

A sharp tapping on the door behind her made Korra start and whirl around in surprise.

Facian stood there, dark eyebrows raised as he watched her. She flushed.

"Facian!" she said, jumping over the threshold in one step, "I didn't realize… um," she quickly leaned over and turned to volume down to almost zero, "Sorry."

The faint sound of Shinobi's voice was disappointed about something. Korra didn't blame him, her buzz of happiness was suddenly dead too. But Facian seemed amused, looking down at the radio with a small smile.

"Aysu assured me that I'd find you sick in bed," he said after a while, taking off his hat and placing it on the couch, "But somehow I'm not surprised you're not."

Korra smiled sheepishly, reaching a gloved hand behind her and sliding the door closed.

"Right. I guess she would have…" she swallowed, "…thought that. I just woke up feeling a little better."

Facian nodded slightly to himself.

"Good enough to start your bending-free combat training?"

"Ah," she said, voice strangling a little in her throat, "No. Not quite better enough for that yet."

"Oh dear," Facian tutted, reaching into his bag and pulling out a shapeless package wrapped in newspaper, "Then you must not be well enough for a gift from Renya."

"I—" Korra blinked, "What?"

"Hmm," Facian said, moving to put the package back into his bag, "Yes, I better come back tomorrow—." Korra jumped forward, placing a hand over Facian's.

"Alright, alright," she sighed, "I'm well enough for presents." she tried to pry it from his hands, "What is it?" she asked.

Facian rolled his eyes, letting her take the package. It was surprisingly light for its size; something hard clinked together inside.

"Don't really know," he said, reaching into his inside jacket pocket and pulling out a sealed, unmarked envelope. Korra made to tear open the package, but stopped herself when she realized that it must be news about the girl. She let the present drop onto the table and reached for the letter. Facian's face crinkled into a small smile as she tore it open, ripping off the corner of the paper inside.

The note was inked onto creased paper in a straight, loopy script, which Korra recognized as Renya's. She angled the paper to catch the light of the lamp and smiled slightly when she saw her name spelt wrong.

_Kara,_

_Facian tells me you are sick. This is what happens when you refuse to sleep. Stupid girl. Drink water._

_The girl is in the hospital now. We were correct, she was drugged. Overdose with some over-the-counter stuff, a cure for foot fungus, that apparantly causes hallucinations in certain people if taken in excess. The girl didn't have any foot fungus. No one has come to claim her. She hasn't waken for more than a few minutes, and when she did the medication hadn't worn off yet. She kept attacking the healers._

_Take the summer solstace off. Stop working so much. It's the Water Tribe festaval this year. Your family should have no complaint._

_Drink water._

_Renya._

Korra couldn't help but grin a little, folding the letter over and stuffing it back in the envelope. The wind surged timidly, drawing rainwater further onto the balcony until it pinged against the window loudly for an instant like a little hummed song.

"Thanks Facian," Korra said, twisting the envelope in her hands. Facian nodded, picking up his hat and pulling it back over his hair with a firm tug. He hadn't seemed to have aged the same number of years as Korra had known him. There was perhaps a little more grey at his temples and a few more lines around his mouth then there used to be, but he was still the same as he always was, middle aged and icy-eyed.

The radio turned off with a _click_, shutting off Shinobi's grainy muttering. Facian's fingers lingered on the knob for a second, as if debating whether or not to turn it back on, but pulled away in the end.

"Aysu will be coming home early tonight," he said, "Branch eight is back on day shifts."

Korra pouted.

"Ya," she said, "She told me. Why can't Yakuna just decide on when she needs us working, day or night, and _leave us there_."

"The Red Monsoons are going through some changes right now," he said, fiddling with the strap on his bag, "It's a little chaotic. We're all trying to work it out, but we need to be sure everything gets done without opening any holes in our defense. If nonbenders are coming up with ways to threaten us right now…" he shook his head, "It's not going to turn out well. Expect very little sleep for the next little while."

Korra groaned, lolling her head backwards.

"But what about the solstice?" she asked, "That's in, what, three days? Are you telling me I won't get the night off?"

"You're getting time off now, aren't you?"

"That's beside the point! It's a _holiday_."

"We aren't a bank. Holidays don't put our business on a standstill."

"Urg," Korra glared at Facian, "I thought being in branch eight gave me some privileges."

"Say that to a branch one and I guarantee they'll at least _try_ to punch you in the face," Facian frowned, "You know, nonbending combat isn't the most difficult thing you could be doing right now instead of staying home."

"Alright, alright," Korra said, waving her hand, "I get it. Sorry. Is there anything else you needed to tell me before I go back to being sick?"

"Just—," Facian glanced at the window behind Korra. He swallowed, a hand resting over his water pouch, "I know you're not taking these nonbenders seriously. Aysu definitely isn't. But I'm telling you that it wasn't Agni Kais, or Triple Threats. This was something completely new."

Korra blinked. His voice had been dry and barely more than a whisper, the words holding less meaning than the way he shifted his feet closer together, shoes scuffing the floor.

"What?" she asked, "Do we know who they are?"

Facian didn't answer at first, his mouth pursing around silent words.

"Just remember," he said after a long moment, "Irik and Kilee weren't some mediocre waterbenders. And they were killed on a _full moon_. You should be careful."

"Facian?"

"That's all," he said quickly. His face suddenly broke up into a wobbly smile and he reached up to ruffle her wolftail playfully, as if she were still seven years old, "Now go back to bed before Aysu gets back and kills you for lying to her."

_Liar_

For a moment Korra stopped breathing, a wave of confusion and denial cresting in her thoughts. _Liar_, a voice scraped at her eyes with broken fingernails, _How could you lie to us._ She blinked quickly, biting the inside of her cheek until the real pain made the illusion dull and fake in contrast. She reminded herself as firmly as she could that Facian meant lying about being _sick_.

"Right," she said unsteadily, "I—um," she had to sink her teeth into the meat of her cheek again before she was able to sort out something to say from the shards of thoughts and meanings, "Goodb_ye _Facian."

The image of Facian nodding in front of her was acutely clear in her memory, but for a moment her concentration was taken up by the wind pushing rain against the window again. By the time the humming song stopped all she saw of him was the apartment door clicking shut behind a boot sole.

Korra sighed and reached blindly behind her, pressing a hand against the cool window. On the other side, the clinging droplets of water gently connected silvery paths of chi to her fingertips, reaching through the glass and the fabric of her gloves to curl beneath her skin like delicate frost. Carefully deliberate and impossibly natural, and yet all it sunk into her as familiar and real as the blood in her veins. She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply through her nose, trying to let the healing power of the element of change sooth her mind and ease the shaking across her skin. She released the air and slowly, slowly, felt the dizzying thoughts fold back, tucked behind a memory of summertime swimming in the bay.

When her eyes opened again she was suddenly aware of the emptiness of long gone summers in the silent home. A cold dread sunk into her, and she snapped her arm away from the window. Leaning down, the radio's dial was clicked on with a little too much force. Shinobi's voice was gone, the probending match over, and an upbeat swing tune burst from the speaker. With a sigh Korra switched it off again, wondering who had won. She scooped up the newspaper-wrapped package that Facian had brought and fell back onto the couch with it clutched to her chest.

The paper was being held together with a cheap twine that Korra broke with her finger. Immediately the wrapping fell away, and a tangle of blue seashells and leather sting slid onto her lap. She frowned, picking up the strings and lifting them, shells dangling like shards of precious stones that clicked together softly.

_Yue Yin_, Korra realized, sitting up and beginning to untangle the strings. They were beaded ropes that women in the Southern Water Tribe wrapped around themselves so that each of their movements sang. A _winter_ solstice tradition, when sound was more important than light to find your way. Korra had a pair in her room that she usually put around her only traditional water tribe boots for winter festivals, but these were of a much better quality, and long enough to wrap around a long skirt. She tested the strength carefully and raised her eyebrows, impressed. These _Yue Yin_ must have belonged to a performer at one point. Korra glanced at the letter on the tea table. But it was the _summer_ solstice…

A small note fell from the tangled _Yue Yin. _Korra reached down and picked it up. A single sentence was written in old Water Tribe with a straight, loopy hand.

_In the south the sun sleeps._

A smile twisted up her lips. In Republic City, the Water Tribes would be celebrating the midnight sun. But where _she_ had been born, this was the time of year the sun was asleep. A festival of lanterns and music begging light's return would rise from the dark, cold south. She dropped the note and fumbled with the _Yue Yin_ with increased enthusiasm.

Standing, Korra tied a length around her waist, the blue shells singing loudly as she wrapped and knotted and wrapped and knotted so they rattled against her pajama pants in rising and falling arches. When she ran out of string she stopped, turning to see herself in the window-turned-mirror.

The shells looked a little silly without a skirt under them, hanging around her knees in loose rows, but Korra was pretty sure Aysu had a traditional Water Tribe wrap she could borrow. She spun, checking herself with her own reflection, and grinned as the shells flashed and clattered.

Maybe Facian was right, and she didn't deserve a day off. But the oncoming solstice was making her blood sing like a rainstorm during the full moon. The Spirit world would be close, the thinnest of rivers dividing their worlds' banks apart.

Her smile faltered as she remembered just where a bridge to cross such a river could be found. The face of an Air Nomad filled her mind's eye as she fumbled to untie the _Yue Yin_.

The probending arena glowed innocently.

.o.O.o.

Red walls leered at Mako, quietly distracting him with their smoothness threaded with deliberate maroon texture. They reflected the crystal light fixture in hazes and patches like pavement that had been cracked by the severity of far too hot a sun. It made his mouth dry, a powdery sensation that started on the tip of his tongue and dabbled into his nose like the sour taste of rotten fruit. Ranshao droned on, and his words of money and loss cut and sewed themselves into a garb of war that Ranshao had imagined into the world of the Agni Kais. A war that didn't exist outside of the red walls, and yet had somehow taken control of Mako's life so completely he was sure he would die fighting in it.

"…routes to bay have been cut off; we'll be raising rent to make up for it…"

A bit of Ranshao's lecture broke through the red walls' hold, but all Mako heard was the same thing he'd heard yesterday and every day before that for the last three years. Something put a strain on the Agni Kais' finances, extortion rates went up. Mako held back a sigh, tearing his eyes away from a deep maroon vein on the wall to try and meet Ranshao's golden gaze. There was only one destination this rut was going to lead to, and when the Agni Kais arrived nothing would be able to keep them together. Playing with the end of his scarf, Mako's thoughts slipped to Bolin. _Maybe we'll get out before then_, he accidentally let himself hope. He closed his eyes, firmly telling himself that there was no point hoping for something that would likely never come. He had to plan for the worst. And the worst was playing in front of him like a broken record in the shape of a skinny man that was more dangerous than he looked by an infinite amount. He paused, spinning on his heel to face Mako with a creased brow.

"Are you listening to me, Mako?"

Mako looked up, meeting Ranshao's bright golden gaze.

"Not really." He admitted, folding his hands onto his knees. The spindly wooden chair squealed under him in protest as he shifted his weight forward, "But let me guess. Full moon, Red Monsoons gave us trouble, _again_. They have control of the bay, _again_, and the smuggling routes over land aren't doing well because, mysteriously, there are _still_ mountains in the way. Metalbenders have caught some of our men, _again_, and the bloodies probably took out a couple more, _again_. Triple Threats are still threatening us, the public still hates us, and for some reason you think that it's a good idea to raise our rates, _again_, because _that's_ a good way to make them stop hating us."

Mako pushed himself to his feet.

"How much did I get right?"

Ranshao scowled, his lips puckering.

"Don't get clever," he mumbled, eyes flashing like light off daggers, "A dozen members wound up dead in neutral territory three days ago, no sign of bending. And that _is_ a first. Something new like that is why it's important you know what's going on in the Triad."

_Why?! _Mako wanted to shout. _Because you think you can convince me? You think any of this will matter when you're gone and I'm gone and the Agni Kais are gone and dead? _

"Why don't you tell these things to Zolan? We both know that he's the one who'll actually be leading the Agni Kais when I take over," he said instead, pushing his hair back from his forehead with agitated fingers.

A paper crinkled under Ranshao's palm as he leaned forward onto his desk.

"Who says I'm not?"

"I do."

Mako tried not to glare as Ranshao threw his head back and laughed. The silver threading into the black hair at his temples held the electric light much better than the walls did; strands glinting like snow when there's a layer of hard crust, the kind that might not break under your feet if you tread lightly enough.

"You've still got spirit to you," Ranshao said when he had finished laughing, "That's good. But the last time you got so daring, you went a little too far. Remember?"

Mako remembered. The feeling of ropes slowly scraping away the skin of his wrists as he listened to Bolin cry out for him was something he didn't think he could soon forget. He could still see Ranshao meeting Mako's eyes as he gave the order to cut deeper, and he could still hear Bolin's screams rise an octave as more blood dripped onto the floor. Mako swallowed back the panic in his chest that came with the memory. _That won't happen this time_, he told himself.

"We're not stupid enough to try running again." Mako said slowly, keeping his voice level. Rain drummed against the windows like desperate fingers, scraping down the glass in silent screeches to be let inside. Ranshao cocked his head towards the sound, a small smile lingering around his mouth.

"Of course," he agreed, playing with the gold cuff links on his sleeve, "But are you smart enough to listen when I tell you to?"

Fierce anger roared in Mako's bones, tickling in his wrists and chest. He wanted nothing more than to strike out, lash a burn across his uncle's pale cheek. Or better yet, strike him dead here and now, escape in the night, his brother tucked safely under his wing, and flee over the mountains. The great rocky barrier would seem like nothing larger than a hill after the years of fear.

The spindly chair squeaked again as Mako slowly sat back onto it, keeping his eyes locked on Ranshao's. He tried not to let the walls distract him this time, and when Ranshao smiled his teeth were a bloodier colour than red.

"Excellent," Ranshao said, clapping his hands together in delight, "Moving on then. We lost Otter Trail—,"

Mako wanted to close his eyes. He couldn't believe he was missing his brother's probending match for this.

.o.O.o.

**Hello internet.**

**Just wanted to put out a note to say that I really like reader feedback. Pick my work apart, make predictions, insult it, say what you want to see, yell at me for simple grammar mistakes. Anything. A touch of feedback is my favourite thing in the world after indoor heating, hot showers, and meat.**

**next chapter's a doozy (plus makorra shhhhhhhhhhh) so just give me a bit of time I'll get it to you I promise on my love of hot showers.**


	10. Break the Rules

When Korra stretched her memory as far as it went, she thought that she could remember what her life was like when she lived in the South Pole.

Korra remembered a very dim hut, with animal skins and hunting spears hanging from the walls.

Korra remembered the sea prunes draped over the half-rotted wooden rafters in strings; long necklaces dangling from the wrinkled necks of croons.

Korra remembered that when she stepped outside, the snow would shine blindingly bright for a few painful minutes.

And, with a clarity that sometimes startled her, Korra remembered the boy she sometimes practiced waterbending with.

Not his name. Never his name. Just one scene, and a face. The paleness of his skin had been so strange and beautiful, bright as the sun glinting off the snow. Korra remembered sitting on the ground across from him, a ball of water suspended in the air between them both as they played a waterbender's arm-wrestle. The rules were simple: whoever let the water splash them lost.

Nearby, a group of women were stirring a great pot. Every now and then they would pull a mass of bright blue buffalo-yak wool from the foul-smelling brew and hang it on a rack or add a new white clump. Korra could hear them whispering among themselves as they worked, stealing glances towards the two children.

"Look at that boy. What remarkable skin," an old, leathery-skinned woman whispered, "Surely he'll be the next Avatar. He's the perfect age for it."

A mother of the tribe leaned forward, keeping her eyes downcast even as her full mouth quirked in an excited smile.

"_I_ hear he has a birthmark on his chest in the shape of a hand. The touch of the Avatar spirit."

Some of the young women gasped, craning their necks to look at him. The boy's face remained blank, but Korra managed to get the water a few inches closer to him as his concentration lapsed.

"Could you imagine if the Avatar came from our village? We might even get a temple built!"

The woman all tutted excitedly, whispering what they would buy once they all became rich from the economic growth that would no doubt come to the Avatar's hometown. But one woman, with a round moon of a face and eyes that were heavy lidded so that she always appeared sleepy, frowned deeply.

"Do not be ignorant," the woman hissed, glaring over at the children kneeling on the ground, "Don't you know who that boy's _father _is?"

A girl, barely old enough to be a woman, frowned.

"Kenthuk?"

"—Is his mother's husband," the woman said with a curl to her lip, "that boy's skin comes from his _real _father. A Fire Nation soldier."

The group of woman gasped in shock at the exact same moment that the boy lost, the orb of water crashing into his face in an explosion of tiny, ice-cold drops. Korra jumped to her feet with a cry of victory, throwing up her fists.

"I win!" she shouted, grinning down at the boy. But he didn't even seem to hear her. He was still staring straight ahead, hands raised as if he their game of concentration hadn't finished yet. His lips were trembling slightly.

He was half and half, neither fire nor water, and once the village knew it no one ever praised his snow white skin again.

.o.O.o.

In Republic City, people who were half and half were nearly as common as people who were not. But that didn't make them better received.

Aysu leaned forward, eyes trained on the girl up ahead who was dressed in water tribe clothing but had eyes that were a distinct Earth Kingdom green.

"That's disgusting," Aysu whispered, "her father's as dirt-coated as a badger mole, but she tries to pass as one of us."

Korra rolled her eyes, putting a palm onto Aysu's forehead and pushing her back.

"Be quiet, Aysu," Korra said in a normal volume, "She's not deaf."

Aysu glared at the girl over Korra's shoulder.

"I am aware of that."

The half and half girl had her shoulders hunched forward, but her chin was up and her green eyes stared straight ahead in a slight squint. There was something of Water Tribe in the roundness of her mouth and the slight crimp in her hair, but the blend made Korra's stomach tighten painfully. It didn't seem right, like something good and pure had been dragged through the mud.

"You're right," Korra said quietly, "Shouldn't she at least cover her eyes or something? What a nasty colour."

Aysu chuckled, looping her arm into Korra's and tugging her slightly towards their group of Branch Eights, who had migrated over to a stand selling fried sea prunes on a stick. On the buildings above them, banners crisscrossed over the narrow street and left playful blue lines against the sky; the paths of jittery birds born of an entire city's excitement. The Summer Solstice had arrived.

The night before, Aysu had come home with flushed cheeks and bright eyes, launching herself at Korra as she half-screamed that she'd done it. Korra, who had been lying on the couch and fiddling with her new _Yue Yin_, yelped as Aysu had grabbed onto her upper arms and began to shake her.

Apparently, Aysu had talked to Yakuna herself. They were getting the Summer Solstice off. All of Branch Eight. Yakuna hadn't even protested all that much, and now they were getting the night off they'd been hoping for and Aysu had barely been able to contain herself—running around the apartment as if the news had given her an intense hit of energy that she couldn't possibly contain inside her skin.

Korra had only half believed it until they had stepped out onto the street that afternoon, music thrumming from an ice harp on the corner mixing pleasantly with the sounds and smells of humans and food. Peoples' excitement jostled Korra from all sides.

The festivals of Republic City had always been mostly informal events. Sure, over in city hall they had their fancy parties for the rich and the influential. And if you wandered far enough into downtown Republic City, you're sure to come across the powerful figures of the underworld gathering together in fancy dress, sharing a drink with the people they were planning to kill. But at large, the festivals were the responsibility of the people. No one needed to say an opening speech, or ring a ceremonial gong, or wait for the clock on Memorial Island to ring x number of times. Citizens decided when it began: the moment the buzz of work faded into a pounding beat of excited talk and twanging thousands of instruments. Bodies would begin to twist to the curved steps of familiar dances that the entire city seemed to know and breathe; the tense anticipation broke into excitement and joy.

It was better that way. No one person decided when the celebrations began. The citizens of Republic City decided it as a mass, one giant crowd knowing exactly when the moment felt _right_.

The earth under Korra's feet felt more solid than usual as she took a bite of her fried sea prune, the _Yue Yin_ over her borrowed skirt slipping through the volume of the people like tiny bells with a sharp, clear sound. It reminded her of something, a festival under a new moon, but Korra couldn't put her finger on it.

_A hand touched her arm, and wide blue eyes looked up at her._

"_We welcome our sister tribe of the North."_

Korra turned her face up to the unusually present sun and grinned, nudging Aysu with her arm.

"Maybe there won't even be rain today," Korra said. The heavy blue sashes and flags snapped in the salty wind, joyfully curling into the sapphire of the sky in flickers and twirls. Aysu smiled and tilted her head up, her eyes half closed in a sleepy sort of contentment.

"The spirits have smiled on the year of the Water Tribes," Aysu said. Korra snorted, throwing an arm over Aysu's shoulders and tangling her fingers in the thin black braids to give them a playful tug.

Last year had seen one of the worst summer storms in years, right on the day of the Summer Solstice. It had been the year of the Air Nomads, and everyone had been looking forward to Master Tenzin and the Air Acolytes emigrating from their island to decorate the town in oranges and yellows. Master Tenzin had been planning to put on a show of his airbending.

In the end the Air Acolytes had still ended up leaving their island for the city, but it had been under the threat of a hurricane, and the ballad of wind and rain had been the only show anyone had watched.

Korra and the other branch eights had celebrated by having a water fight by the river instead.

The mental image of a soaked Kanshu, long hair escaped from his wolftail and sticking to his face in thick black strands, made Korra smile a little. Aysu pushed Korra's arm off her shoulders abruptly, only to turn towards another Branch Eight and latch onto him.

"Look!" she yelled over the music, "It's Huka!"

Korra perked up, craning her neck. She spotted him immediately. He was a head taller than most everyone in the crowd, the white hat on his head shining like the glow of burning magnesium, impossible to miss and almost difficult to look at directly.

Aysu hollered and waved. He waved back, beginning to power through the crowd toward them.

The _Yue Yin _clattered as Aysu grabbed Korra's wrist and started shoving past people dressed in blue to meet him halfway. As soon as they were close enough Aysu jumped on him, throwing her arms around his neck as Korra watched; a smile quirked up the side of her mouth.

"Huka!" Aysu shouted happily, going up on her tiptoes to kiss both of his cheeks in greeting. Huka blushed slightly, smiling sheepishly at Korra over Aysu's head.

"Hey Huka," Korra said, pouting up at him as he gently pushed Aysu back, "Did you get _taller_?" Korra stepped forward, pretending to measure her height against his. Comparing herself to him was laughably pointless; Huka was plainly taller than her by at _least_ a foot, same as he had had over her since they were fifteen. He towered over everyone and had bulk that an earthbender would envy. Most members of the Red Monsoons wondered at his decision to refuse admission to Branch Eight, even after it had been offered directly, but Korra agreed that it wouldn't have been good for him; Huka didn't have the heart for combat.

"Oh ha ha Korra," he said, crossing his arms, "That's so _funny_."

Korra grinned. "_I_ thought so."

Aysu leaned back on the high heels of her shoes, keeping a precarious balance as she beamed up at Huka. He offered her a small smile, eyes flickering away. The jagged burn scar on his face made one corner of his mouth seem to curl ironically as he stared at a beggar playing the ice harp.

"How have things been at Branch Three?" Aysu asked.

Huka shrugged his great shoulders, looking back to her.

"It's as good as you can expect _lily picking_ to be," he said, using the nickname for 'human smuggling', Branch Three's specialty, "The paperwork is easy enough, but the hours are a little brutal. What about Branch Eight? Full moon just ended, you must still be jet lagged from the schedule change."

"Most of us are," Aysu said, jerking a thumb towards Korra playfully, "But that little slug toad got a couple sick days off. I'd bet she's plenty well-rested by now."

Korra grimaced.

"It's true," she said, "I had the gall to collapse from exhaustion without Aysu's permission."

"In a _gym_," Aysu half-yelled, turning a few heads in their direction, "Which I still haven't forgiven you for, by the way."

Korra cocked a hip in annoyance when Huka let a laugh escape from his lips. The _Yue Yin_ clicked with her movement, drawing everyone's eyes.

"You're doing the Southern thing?" Huka asked, gesturing to her skirt.

"I guess," Korra said, "I found them in my closet and figured I might as well wear them."

"So then you're going to Winter Festival on the bay?"

"I don't know yet," Korra admitted, brushing her hands over the gem-like shells, "I might—,"

"Is anyone else _starved_?" Aysu suddenly interrupted with a smile, "You wanna come with us for some noodles, Huka?"

He grimaced guiltily, scratching the close-cropped curls on the back of his head.

"I'm working right now," he admitted, patting his messenger bag, "Follow up with a client. There have been some complications with getting his wife into the city. Thought I'd better tell him in person in case he got too emotional about it," Huka smiled, "He was good though; really calm. Took less time than I thought it would, so I figured I could stop and see the festival."

"That's too bad." Aysu said, lacing and unlacing her fingers.

"Yes, sorry about that," he agreed. He glanced at his old watch and frowned, "Well, I guess I'll see you two around."

Huka hands folded into a traditional Water Tribe salutation carefully, and he bowed lowly to Aysu from the waist, "_May the light of the midnight sun bless you_," Huka said smoothly in Old Water Tribe. He turned to Korra and changed the hand symbol to a Southern one before bowing to her as well, "_May the dark night end and bring a new world of light_."

Korra and Aysu both bowed back, choppily murmuring their own Old Water Tribe blessings. Huka straightened and, with a small tug on his white hat, walked back into the crowd, only pausing to drop a small bundle of paper yuans in the ice-harpist's hat.

When he was gone, Korra glanced sideways at Aysu.

"So," she said, "We _are _actually going to go get noodles, right? That offer wasn't just for Huka?"

"Oh, shut up," Aysu said, slinking ahead into the crowd, further from the other Branch Eights, with flushed cheeks. Korra jogged to keep up.

"I vote for Narook's!" she called out.

.o.O.o.

The usually spacious and quiet restaurant was stuffed to bursting point, extra tables and chairs shoved into every available space and into a couple of unavailable spaces. Several waiters and waitresses squeezed through a maze of complaining patrons and sharp-edged furniture with expressions bordering on panic, orange sashes tied around their shoulders flashing brightly over the sea of blue.

"Maybe Narook's was a bad choice," Korra admitted. She leaned back in her seat and ran both hands through her loose hair, accidentally bumping her elbow into the Fire Nation boy sitting behind her. She straightened quickly and pressed her lips into a grimace of apology, but he barely glanced back at her, one hand fiddling with his obnoxiously red scarf.

Korra felt a bristle of annoyance under her skin, but brushed it away with imagined fingers.

The heat of the room was bordering on unbearable. Korra cupped her hands and blew on them carefully, a swirl of frosted breath catching the light of the poorly-placed romantic lantern in the centre of their table.

"This place is fine," Aysu said as she took up her chopsticks and stirred the deep green noodles carefully to mix the mess of orange dragon fish eggs into the broth. They popped as they were doused, a delicately salty aroma filtering through the smell of sweat and too many people breathing.

"It'd be better if Narook just let fewer people in at a time," Korra muttered as she took up her own chopsticks, grabbing a large piece of seal beef and stuffing it into her mouth, followed closely by a slurp of green noodles.

She hummed appreciatively, although Narook's quality was a little lower than usual. His motto of never turning away a hungry customer must have been taking its toll on the kitchens. A waiter squeezed past her with five bowls of noodles balanced on his arms.

Korra sniffed, rubbing a sheen of sweat off her forehead with the heel of her hand. Why wasn't anyone opening a window? Her head was pounding, egged on by the noise of the people talking over their noodles. Several snippets of conversation filtered through to her ears as she slurped loudly.

"—_still need to finish—"_

"—_there may be fireworks—"_

"—_gross this fish is so—"_

"—_ear about Shei Lan's son? He—"_

"—_didn't work, but it looks like it did—"_

"—_There's this secret tunnel that—"_

"—_can't just go around wiping out people I don't like."_

"_Sure you can! You're the Avatar—"_

Korra chocked on her noodles, inhaling some broth and breaking down into a sputtering, coughing mess. Aysu squeaked in a way that should have been funny but wasn't, nearly dropping the glass of water she'd been taking a sip from and spilling water down her front_._

"What is it?" Aysu asked as Korra twisted around in her chair, "What's wrong?"

Korra's eyes darted over the faces of the customers in a panic. She twisted her head around further than it felt like it was meant to go, and she had a mental image of a cat owl twisting its head all the way around before her elbow jammed into the side of the Fire Nation boy again and she was too busy muttering an apology to keep up the mental image.

He turned to look at her more fully, frowning at her. His face was long, with a pointed chin and straight nose. His amber eyes scrutinised her curiously, and Korra was suddenly struck by how familiar he looked. It wasn't until she found herself picturing a jagged burn scar covering half of his face and the name _Zuko _echoed in her head that it hit her what the snippets of conversations were.

The sound of her own pulse made her ears ring, headache suddenly pounding and painful, the red of the Fire Nation boy's scarf egging it on like salt ground into a wound. Korra touched her cheek and shivered

The Fire Nation boy glanced over his shoulder, looking for whatever it was she was staring at.

_A memory. His memory._

It was suddenly cold.

Aysu let out a loud curse of pain, and the glass slipped from her fingers and exploded on the floor.

Heads snapped towards the sound of shattering glass, but Korra spun in a different panic, unworried about sharp bits of glass. Aysu's cry had been small, but specific. A grunt of surprise that had risen to a curse of pain and a strangled choke of trying to keep silent. Korra swallowed at the sight of Aysu cradling her hand to her chest, eyes wide.

"Aysu?" she asked, leaning forward, "Are you—"

"I'm fine," Aysu snapped, hiding her hand under the table, "I just—I don't know. The water just got hot. Someone—," she frowned, and Korra could see her eyes flicker towards the Fire Nation boy, "…someone firebent it."

Korra felt her inner flame shudder self-righteously. Korra grit her teeth and forced it back down until it flickered coolly like a disappointed candle. She automatically half-stood, one hand raised to call over a waitress to clean the broken glass from the floor.

Aysu was turning towards the Fire Nation boy, face relaxing into a blank expression that made Korra swallow against the taste of fear on her tongue.

"Hey," Aysu said blankly, addressing the boy, "Hey, ash-squatter."

The boy didn't seem to realize he was being spoken to at first, although several heads turned in his direction immediately. Two waitresses kneeled by the broken glass, sweeping away shards with a jerky unease as they kept glancing at Aysu and the boy. Korra shifted in her seat. If the boy was smart he would deny it immediately, pretend to be a nonbender regardless of whether he was or not. But even so, his red scarf stood out sharply, as if calling out attention to the way he didn't fit in this Water crowd.

"Oi," Aysu said a little louder, her lip curling into the first visible signs of anger, "Boy, I'm talking to you." She stood, knocking her chair backwards. It bumped one of the kneeling waitresses, and she yet out a yelp of fear. The boy's head tilted towards them, regarding Aysu with confusion.

"What?" he asked, glancing at Korra for a second as if asking if she knew what was happening. Korra looked away quickly.

Aysu skirted around the table and around Korra, looming over the sitting boy without emotion. The boy's hands tensed; a habit of most benders when they felt threatened.

That would be all the proof Aysu would likely wait for, Korra realized. She bit her lip, contemplating sitting there and doing nothing. She didn't owe this stupid boy wearing the red scarf anything, and it would be so easy to let Aysu assume he was the bender responsible. She could get out of this without suspicion, she could get away with the bending slip up just this once. Her secret would be safe if she just_ did nothing_.

_It is easy to do nothing_

Korra mentally grumbled, rubbing her temple.

"Aysu, stop," she said, reaching up and placing a hand on her shoulder. Aysu shook her off, not taking her eyes off the boy. By now he was glaring up at her, his amber eyes sparking dangerously, but Korra could taste an underlying of confusion. Aysu made a fist, a twist of water creeping from her pouch and over her knuckles.

"Do you think that was _funny_?" Aysu asked almost pleasantly, leaning forward with a half-smile, "Do you _like_ ruining peoples nice meals?"

The boy frowned, standing suddenly. Aysu was forced to step back as his chair pushed into her. He was a full head taller than Aysu, almost as tall as Huka, and although he appeared to be very thin beneath his loose grey jacket, Korra recognized the controlled movements of a fighter. She swallowed.

"Aysu—"

"What are you talking about?" the boy snapped, crossing his arms. The hint of a tattoo peaked out from the edge of his black fingerless glove. Korra jumped to her feet, grabbing Aysu's shoulder as she lunged to strike him.

"Aysu!" she said again, yanking Aysu backwards, "I don't think it was him."

"What?!" Aysu growled, snapping her head towards Korra as her calm expression began to spider into fury, "Who else could it possibly be? He's the only Fire Nation _here_."

Korra pouted slightly.

"I just don't think—."

"Korra,_ shut up_."

Glass crunched under Aysu's foot as she changed her stance and shot a whip of water towards the boy. He made a small noise of surprise as his hands shot up with a small burst of fire to block. A cloud steam hissed from the collision.

The crowd in the restaurant had gone silent, staring at the three of them. The people sitting at the closest tables looked terrified, but didn't seem to want to move for fear that it may bring attention to them. Korra cursed, grabbing Aysu's arm as she wound back to strike again and yanking it to the side. For a moment Aysu's face blanked, and then with a growl she turned on Korra, driving her elbow back.

It caught Korra on the side. The table shrieked a few inches backwards as Korra fell into it, dragging Aysu with her. Someone screamed.

"Aysu," Korra growled through clenched teeth, "Don't!"

"**Let me go!**" Aysu screeched, thrashing as Korra's arm snapped around her neck. Korra cupped the back of Aysu's neck with her palm, her elbow settling over the struggling girl's throat. She tightened her hold slightly; twisting herself out of the reach of Aysu's flailing arms. She glared over Aysu's struggling body at the Fire Nation boy, who still held small flames on the tips of his fingers.

"Get out," she yelled, "_Now_."

The boy hesitated a moment. His eyes flickered to something behind Korra, most likely at the waitresses cowering on the ground among broken glass. He nodded once, then turned and began to cut through the chairs and tables in a beeline for the door.

As he disappeared onto the street, Korra counted to thirty in her head before releasing Aysu.

Her head snapped to the side as a frosted fist cracked against her cheek. Both of them panted, adrenaline making Korra woozy.

"What the hell Korra?" Aysu snapped. Korra scowled, feeling what would surely be a bruise tomorrow on her cheekbone.

"I don't care if you want to beat up some jerkbender," she said, "But can you just control yourself long enough to _look at where we are_?" Korra threw a hand in the direction of a full table next to them. A little girl flinched away from her, eyes wide.

Aysu's chest was rising and falling, panting like a furious beast with wild eyes and bared teeth. But slowly her face relaxed, cold as ice creeping across the surface of a pond, and the terrifying calm that defined Aysu's fury took over her. Aysu slowly turned and pushed towards the exit without another word.

Murmurs began to rise from the tables, and Korra sighed. A handful of pink yuans and a grimaced apology later, Korra had practically fled from the restaurant, the sound of (good old) Narook yelling after her not to come back leaking into the streets.

Aysu was nowhere to be found among the chaotic crowd of blue.

.o.O.o.

Korra had wandered the streets for another hour or so looking for Aysu, half hoping for a chance to apologize and half hoping to see what poor sap Aysu would end up taking out her anger on. She spotted Lakir and Kimi watching water benders perform a mock fight that was really more of a dance, but they had not seen Aysu either.

She didn't really know when she realized she was drifting towards the bay, where the Winter Solstice celebrations were taking place, but suddenly she was no longer an oddity with her loud _Yue Yin_. Every other woman had similar blue garbs, clattering as they moved until it filled the air with a constant buzz like rain. Blue banners became sparser as lanterns made of delicate ice replaced them, twinkling in the fading sunlight like light bugs woven among the canopy of walls and balconies. Korra reached out as she passed a lantern that had begun to melt, refreezing the ice without breaking stride.

Korra only paused when she reached the bay, water lapping gently beneath the docks as she looked out towards the stubborn sun, refusing to dip below the horizon. It cast Air Temple Island into a dark silhouette, rimmed by orange.

There was no way she was finding Aysu, not in this festival and not while Aysu didn't want to be found. That much Korra should have accepted already. Maybe she had accepted it, but knowing something was pointless never stopped her from doing it anyways before.

People were twisting and dancing behind her, and the song of the _Yue Yin_ made Korra's shoulders relax as their laughter and singing enveloped her. It was different from the tight energy of the summer celebrations, these folks in a calmer, more solemn mood under a sky they pretended had no sun as the light of the world slept, to be reborn in the morning when the deepest darkness broke.

Perhaps stopping Aysu had been the wrong thing to do. It would only cause trouble for Korra in the long run, and who really cared if some Fire Nation boy was punched? Aysu's anger wouldn't help Korra when everything fell apart.

And everything _would_ fall apart eventually, Korra knew that. Her bending slips were becoming more and more frequent, and it would only be a matter of time before someone saw a flame jump from her fingers and realizes just who she really was.

She shivered, crossing her arms against the ocean wind and trying not to think of the visions that had started to invade her consciousness more and more acutely. Korra should be thankful that the Fire Nation boy had been there to blame it all on. But instead she'd tried to stop Aysu like an idiot. She turned away from the bay, wondering what she should do now that she was alone.

She walked slowly, placing one foot in front of the other as she watched dancers twirl by in groups like colourful fish.

Several pairs of apparent lovers were huddled into deep doorways, smiling and whispering to one another as if they were alone. A blushing young boy presented a flower made of ice to his girlie, who blushed even deeper than him and accepted it awkwardly with a small smile.

Korra flicked her fingers in a shooing motion, and the flower suddenly turned to water that fell between the girl's fingers.

"That was mean."

Korra didn't turn towards the man who spoke from behind her, shrugging. The girl started to get all teary as she tried to apologize to the boy.

"It would have melted anyways. I just sped up the process," Korra. The man behind her laughed quietly.

Korra glanced back, twisting her mouth in annoyance.

"So did my friend ever end up finding you?"

The Fire Nation boy from Narook's shook his head. He was sitting on the front steps of a shop, cradling a bottle of soda and watching her. The same bright red scarf as before was draped around his neck, and he looked as if he may have splashed water onto his hair in an attempt to wash off some of the hair gel that glinted on the black strands. He jerked his chin in her direction.

"Nice bruise."

Korra touched her cheek carefully where Aysu had hit her. It was still tender, but it couldn't be more than a little pink by then.

"Thanks for your concern," she said drily, "What are you doing here?"

His amber eyes rolled like little sun disks.

"Why did you defend me at Narook's?" he asked, but what the tone of his voice really said was '_I'm not going to tell you._' Korra pouted, hands tensing into fists.

"Instead of asking stupid questions, why don't you just _thank_ me?" she said.

The boy inclined his head slightly.

"Thank you."

Korra huffed and crossed her arms.

"You're bloody welcome."

The silence between them was thick, a cool breeze tiptoeing through the streets and ruffling Korra's hair so that it fell into her face. She shoved it back and frowned down at the boy. Her cheeks were still hot from the rush of their miniature argument, but the boy seemed bored. He wasn't even looking at her, and everything about the way he sat, leaned up against a door with a bold-lettered _Closed_ sign hanging on it, said that he was done talking to her.

He yawned.

Korra scowled, walking up to the boy and collapsing down on the step beside him. He looked over at her in surprise, and she struck out and landed a half-hearted punch on his arm.

"Ow," he complained, rubbing his shoulder, "What was that for?"

"Just passing it on" Korra said with a shrug, not meeting his eyes, "Aysu sends her regards." His red scarf was bothering her, reminding her of an unpleasant combination of work, fire, and the crimson sashes Aysu had decorated their apartment with.

"What are you trying to do?" Korra asked, poking the red fabric, "It's stupid to be wandering around this area with a stupid red scarf like that. People here _hate_ the Fire Nation."

A small twitch at the corner of his mouth was the only indication that he had heard her. He raised the soda to his lips and took a long drink, the leather of his black gloves growing shiny from the condensation on the cold glass bottle. Korra frowned at him.

"Hell, it's almost like you _want_ someone like Aysu to pick a fight with you." She said, picking at her own gloves. She waited for him to deny it.

He said nothing, lowering the bottle and cradling it in his hands.

Korra stared at him for a moment, and then snorted a laugh.

"You've got to be kidding. _Seriously_?"

His only answer was to shrug.

"Oh come on, did you or did you not want to fight her?" Korra asked, grinning, "There are only two possible answers. Was that why you didn't deny firebending Aysu's drink?"

"Maybe I _did_ firebend Aysu's drink," he said quietly, looking over at her. Korra scoffed.

"Liar." she said.

The sound of laughter cut through the boy's intent yellow stare, making his eyes flicker back towards the children where they were now bent over laughing at an attempt at a new ice flower that had turned out looking more like a fat rabbit monkey. The girlie was smiling at the boy wider than she had when she'd first received the gift, neither of them able to hold back their giggles.

The Fire Nation boy turned to look at her again.

"How would _you_ know that it wasn't me?"

Korra flushed. She reached out and grabbed the bottle from his loose fingers, bringing it to her lips and taking a drink without looking at him. The sweet, sticky pop was familiar, but the rim had a hint of something that had come from him, giving the drink a foreign taste to it. She swallowed and put the bottle down on the concrete with a quiet _click_.

"I—," she paused to wipe her mouth on her glove, "You just…didn't seem too keen to fight in a crowded place. You would have challenged her in the street or something."

"Hmm," he said, looking away from her. The response was a single note, altogether unconvinced and slightly amused, and it gave Korra the intense urge to reach out and hit him again.

"What?" she snapped. He shook his head slightly, pressing his lips together like he was trying not to smile.

"Nothing," he said in a way that meant something.

Korra ran both of her hands through her hair, jaw clenching.

"Alright, that's it," she said, shoving the boy's shoulder again and getting to her feet, "You want a fight? Fine. I know a spot."

The boy frowned, shaking his head.

"That's not—"

"Oh, come on," Korra said, nudging his knee with her toe, "I want to knock down the ego of the guy stupid enough to goad Aysu into a fight."

He scowled at her, grabbing the bottle of soda and holding it like a weapon for a moment. He didn't look away from Korra as he took a sip, lips closing around the rim tightly. Korra swallowed, and the boy lowered the soda with a breathed laugh.

"Alright," he said, standing up, "Fine."

Korra grinned, turning and jerking her head towards the bay.

"Follow me a few metres back."

The boy made a face, but nodded, falling into step behind her as they cut through the people dripping in blue and purple and under banners with moons painted onto them with varying quality.

.o.O.o.

"I didn't realize that there'd be people watching."

Korra pouted over her shoulder as she smoothed her hair back into a knot at the nape of her neck.

"You want to fight during the city festival and not get arrested?" she said, untying her overskirt and throwing it on top of her jacket in a chorus of _Yue Yin_, "Then you fight for an audience." She gestured vaguely to the assorted group of folks cheering on a fight between two earthbenders. They were a part of the ring of spectators, but within a roped-off area full of people that were far too silent as they waited for their turn to fight,

The Fire Nation boy wrinkled his nose as one earthbender lost and a glint of golden yuans flashed in the crowd.

"Is this an illegal gambling spot?"

Korra feigned shock, covering her mouth and gasping sarcastically. The boy's mouth pressed into a hard, unamused line, but he dropped the topic.

Around the ring people clambered over each other to reach out and touch the winner, an old ritual in this particular fighting ring. It took skill and luck to win, and touching the victor supposedly passed those things on. Korra didn't much care for the ritual herself, but the earthbender man was beaming proudly as people slapped hands against his absurdly bare chest.

A cheer rose as the next pair went up to fight. Korra went on her toes to see them, an earthbender and a nonbender, while the Fire Nation boy took off his jacket and started to unbutton his shirt.

The earthbender was grinning confidently, clearly thinking he'd already won the fight, but the nonbender girl did not appear to be afraid.

Korra still didn't know the Fire Nation boy's name.

"Hey! Korra!"

She almost flinched at the voice, turning to smile tightly at the young Water Tribe man walking towards her, gold chains glinting from around his neck.

"Hi Shin" she said, staring at his arching eyebrows. He reached out to ruffle her hair.

"I wasn't sure if you were going to show up this year. You guys have been busy lately, what with all the—"

Korra pushed Shin's hand away quickly, interrupting him with a falsely cheerful voice.

"_I didn't plan to_. But _this_ dumbass was trying to fight Aysu. I thought I'd teach the firebender a lesson."

The boy didn't even spare them a glance, watching the earthbender barely holding his own as the nonbender darted around him and struck hard. He had finished shedding his jacket, and his undershirt seemed too tight to be comfortable.

Shin let out a low whistle.

"So then he challenged _you_? Does this guy have a death wish?"

The boy raised his eyebrows but didn't say anything.

"I don't know, probably." Korra said. Shin smiled, taking out a pen and a creased piece of paper. She watched him write her name down on the list of fighters, pausing on the line for her challenger and looking up at her expectantly. Korra remained silent.

"So… does he have a name?"

The Fire Nation boy scowled, looking over his shoulder at Shin.

"Mako," he said shortly, turning back towards the fight. Korra kept a straight face and nodded.

"Alright," Shin said with a grin, "I'll see if you guys can go next. I'm looking forward to _this_."

Korra grunted in agreement, watching Shin as he walked away and towards the man taking down bets. She swallowed and touched her hair knot carefully.

"Ex-boyfriend?" Mako asked as the nonbender's fist cracked against the earthbender's cheek, sending him crashing to the ground.

"Shut up, _Mako,_" Korra barked, glaring at the ground. Her cheeks flushed as she realized that that sounded like a confirmation. Shin was _nearly ten years older_ than her, and he'd been her teacher back in her early training days as a Red Knife before, apparently, ditching the Triads altogether. Whispers suggested he'd actually gone to join the Triple Threats, believing the Red Monsoons to be close to collapse.

If that was so, he'd been wrong. Of course he'd been wrong.

The earthbender was dragged away, unconscious, and as the nonbender collected her winnings Korra made eye contact with Shin. He jerked his head towards the ring with a grin, mouthing 'You're up'. She walked forwards without a word.

Several people recognized her, and she saw a few place bets before Mako even realized it was their turn and followed her onto the pavement.

They stood in the middle of the churning circle, Mako watching Korra and Korra watching the crowd grinning and hollering. She tried to gage their reaction as the names of the fighters passed through word of mouth from Shin's position and all the way through the crowd like a ripple on a pond. Not many needed to hear "Korra. Waterbender" to know who she was, but several people craned their necks in interest when "Mako. Firebender" was said.

Korra could feel the eyes of the people on her and felt a thrill in her stomach. Turning to glare darkly at Mako, she shifted her stance into one for fighting, collecting a handful of water from the pouch at her hip, so that it sat in the white palm of her glove like a trembling stone.

Mako frowned at her aggressive stance. He'd also left his gloves on, and the leather gleamed as he raised his fists in front of his face. One of his feet shifted forward.

Korra frowned. What the hell kind of stance was that? She met Mako's amber eyes, which seemed to almost look directly through her. They sparked with anger, and his jaw clenched with a murderous tension as a man shouted for the fight to begin.

Fire shot forward from Mako's fists, coming in two quick jabs. It was faster than she was used to a firebender moving. As she dodged and twisted, only to have to avoid another attack from a different direction, she realized what his strange stance was designed for. Not power, but speed. She threw up a block with a strike of water, diving down below the scalding cloud of steam and trying to whip out at his side. He moved, sending an arch of fire out of his heel in a high sweeping kick, and Korra was forced to roll out of the way.

The crowd was cheering now, their voices pressing against Korra's ears and blending with the sound of her singing blood. She grit her teeth, taking a handful of her bending water and freezing it into ice.

She darted forward, pushing away the fire with a small swipe, and rammed into Mako hard, her shoulder connecting with his stomach with a dull _crack_. He made a slight noise of discomfort, but then his knee was driving upwards, catching Korra on the shoulder. She jerked away from him, slamming her fist, slippery cold ice between her fingers, across his face.

The sound of the cheering crowd rose like a title wave as Mako stumbled back, a long cut carving a path from his chin to just under his left eye. Korra reached out a hand towards the bay. She was done with this fight.

A twist of her arm traveled through her in a rolling motion, and she prodded the energy of the water. The sense of it flooded towards her like a river pushing through the holes of a dam, and filled her with a chilled power that grew stronger with each breath. Korra carefully moved with pushes and pulls wherever needed like a master puppeteer, and shaped the water into a swirling column that rose from the ocean like a serpent.

But Mako's eyes flashed as the water rose and cast a shadow over them both. He didn't even flinch as it began to fly towards him, its tip freezing into a spearhead of ice and following Korra's ruthless aim. His hands flew to the side, two fingers cutting through the air in opposite circular motions that made the hairs on Korra's arms stand on end.

The sky exploded in light and sound, blasting Korra back a few feet.

She barely managed to keep her balance, a combination of shards of ice and scalding hot water raining down on her. She bent them away with a swipe, her chest shuddering in a combination of exertion and panic as she stared at Mako with wide eyes.

One of his arms was still extended, the tips of his fingers smoking in thin grey tendrils.

_Lightning._ The word ran silently over Korra's wet lips. The air still cackled, it's laughter a tingling shiver across her skin. Mako stared through her with half-lidded eyes cloudy with fury. His face creased frighteningly, and he moved in those circles again, slower this time, eyes set on Korra like a bulls-eye.

Her arm shot out and the water beneath his stance froze smooth. His feet slipped out from beneath him as he tried to step, throwing him backwards, and Mako's head cracked against the pavement.

Korra ran forward as he struggled to sit up, groping around as if searching for something to help him even though there was nothing there. She planted a foot on his chest, forcing him back down. His head hit the ground again and he gasped, ribcage struggling against her weight in a mad surge for air.

Mako's eyes were still clouded and angry, but beneath that there was a panic, a desperate begging. He was looking through her, at someone else's face, and he was pleading with them. She faltered, almost lifting her foot off his chest.

The world flipped as he shoved her back. Korra fell onto one knee, and suddenly Mako was standing above her, flames in hand. She grabbed towards the wet pavement, a jet of water striking him in the face, and froze it over his mouth and nose.

Mako stumbled away as he began to panic, clawing at the ice on his face with fiery nails, but Korra tightened her hands and the ice froze all over again. Gradually, his writhing slowed.

Mako fell forward.

A cheer rose as Korra desperately lurched towards him, tearing the water from his face and throwing it away. She knelt at his side, shoving him over onto his back and leaning over his face, water droplets falling from her hair and disappearing into his soaking wet skin like rain into the ocean. His lips were parted, and a rasp of breath blew through them.

Korra held back a sigh of relief.

People started to slap her back, stealing some of her 'luck against lightening' in heaping handfuls as they dragged her to her feet. Her knees felt weak for a moment, but as she saw Shin approaching her with a leering grin, Korra steeled herself. He leaned over and said something to her, most of his words lost to the sound of cheering and people hitting her from all sides, but she caught something about "The fight of the year" and how people would be "talking about this for a long time". She almost asked him to tell them not to. Knocking your opponent out by drowning them with waterbending was a cheap win. But of course, Shin had no say in what the people would spread, so she just pressed her mouth into a thin line and nodded.

Shin glanced behind Korra and frowned.

"He's not dead, is he?"

Korra shook her head. Hands brushed her, on her arms, her back, her hair, slowing to something less harsh. She would not turn around. She did not care about him.

"Maybe I should drag him to a healer or something," she said dryly, her voice rising a little at the word 'healer', "He hit his head pretty hard."

Shin waved his hand, already turning to talk to someone about the next fighter, and Korra took it to be a gesture of agreement.

Pushing away a hand that had tried to reach out to touch her face, Korra turned, staring down at Mako's still body. The cut on his cheek was sending ripples of blood dripping onto the pavement in diluted strands. She reached out and tried to bend the blood away and back into the cut, but of course there was no full moon, and the scarlet war paint remained as immovable as fire or earth or air.

She ended up wiping away the blood with her thumb, staining her gloves.

.o.O.o.

Korra waited until after the sun had set and the sky had grown deep and dark. Stars winked at her, foreign and strange, but of course they had always been there, hiding shyly behind rainclouds.

The community healers' place was a windowless one-room shop, with grey pallets spaced out evenly on wood floors. Korra sat where there should have been a door, facing the street, keeping her eyes half-lidded as she breathed the cool night air; it grappled with a hint of the heat of the day. Her inner fire tried to warm itself in response, but she pushed it down on reflex, a natural reaction to the heat in her chest.

_Stop that. _She scolded the warmth, as if it were a naughty pet. The flame seemed to cower, concentrating in her lungs like tiny pricks of white-hot energy.

Earlier, a man with brown-green eyes had offered Korra something to clean the scrapes on her knees and some tea for her headache. She'd consented, trading a pair of yuans for the steaming teacup and to borrow a flask of stinging liquid. She had pressed a scrap of cloth against her shiny red skin on her own, allowing the untrained people who worked in the nameless place go about treating others who had had too much fun in the festival. She was the closest thing the place had to a regular, systematically dragging the losers of her brawls here after a fight, and the workers recognized her face.

Many glanced at her nervously as she lingered while Mako was being healed. She had never stayed behind before.

She laughed quietly to herself, tilting her head upwards to look at the moon flirting with the rooftops; newly waning, but still proud and bright as a lantern in the dark.

Mako had been lucky, escaping the fight with only some bruises on his abdomen and the long cut on his face. Somehow, he didn't have a concussion, and despite the fact that there were no waterbenders on hand that night, the healers had done a fine job patching him up. The bandage on his face had just the barest hint of a red stain at his cheekbone.

Korra was just glad that her stunt with suffocation hadn't worked too well. Somehow, miraculously, his breathing was normal and she hadn't been as close to killing him as she'd thought. The head injury must have had him on the brink of losing consciousness; a lack of oxygen just pushed him over the edge.

She traced her foot over the ground in a small arch, back and forth, rhythmically to a beat she could faintly hear through the eerily empty streets. The celebrations down the way had continued after everyone else had set down with the sunlight, and they kept the city alive with their heartbeat of music. Her thoughts spiraled to Otter Trail and bloodbending; a pulse in time with the ocean waves echoing in her bones as she held a life beneath her thumb like a delicately-shelled beetle.

It had always made her feel powerful to hold that over her enemies. As long as she was stronger, she would always be safe. That was what she'd known her whole life. But suddenly, the memory made her feel sick to her stomach. She tried to think of how many Agni Kais she'd killed with the technique.

She couldn't come up with a number.

A small hand touched her shoulder, gentle enough that Korra didn't realize it at first. She looked down at the small Earth Kingdom girl. The child had unusually light hair and kept her face angled down slightly, eyes downcast.

"He woke up," She muttered, brown eyes flickering towards the pallet where Mako was lying. Korra twisted around, her _Yue Yin_ jangling slightly as she shifted her legs.

"Thanks," she said, getting to her feet in a clatter of shells. The girl glanced at Korra's skirt shyly, but she still flinched when Korra reached out to pat her head as she passed. A floorboard creaked underfoot as she stepped into the healers' place.

Korra had never waited to see if her opponents were okay.

Not once.

And now that she _had,_ the change somehow didn't seem right, like she was breaking a rule and was just waiting to be penalized for it. When nothing happened, no red fan waved over her head, the thrill of breaking a rule and getting away with it went through her like an electric shock.

It felt good.

She stepped beside Mako's pallet, looking down at him with her lip pressed out in annoyance. He was staring up at the ceiling with confused eyes, the amber strange and bright against his pale skin. He blinked very slowly, staring her silhouette looming over him. Korra's cheeks kept trying to tighten into a smile, but she managed to keep a straight face as she lifted her hand and held out three fingers.

"How many?" she asked dryly, looking down her nose at him.

"Three?"

"Perfect," she said with a nod, finally allowing herself a wide grin, "I think you just might live."

Mako turned his face to the side, rubbing the back of his hand against his forehead. He muttered something in Fire Nation that Korra didn't understand, but it sounded sarcastic. She kicked his pallet, budging it to the side and making him jolt.

"Where's my congratulations?" she asked hotly, cocking her head to the side, "For my victory."

Mako frowned at her, then held up two thumbs.

"Top notch job," he said. He managed to say it with such sarcasm and boredom that Korra couldn't help the cough-like laugh that came from her chest. His lips twitched into a smile of his own. Korra crouched down on the balls of her feet, resting her forearms against the hard shells of her skirt.

"It was a good fight," she admitted, "You didn't mention that you could lightningbend."

"Yay? Well you never said anything about suffocation tactics."

Korra blew a raspberry at him, feeling a blush of shame creep up her neck.

"Oh, hush. That's basic waterbending self defense," she said, "You looked like you were aiming to _kill_."

He grunted, an agreement or a denial, Korra wasn't sure, and pushed himself up onto his elbows. Korra leaned back so they wouldn't bonk foreheads.

"Where's my scarf?" he asked suddenly, turning to Korra. She raised her eyebrows at the hostile quirk to his lip.

"Right beside you," she said, nodding to the lump of bright red fabric sitting on the stone floor on his other side. His hands snapped out, shoulders relaxing even as he gripped the scarf far too tightly in his rush to twist it around his shoulders. He winced when he twisted too far to the side, arm snapping down to press his hand against his side.

"Ow," he said, sounding surprised. Korra frowned.

"It's not broken," she said, "You should make a full recovery. If you're lucky, you won't even get a scar on your face." she reached out and poked Mako's cheek, right above where the gaze was taped. He raised a hand to touch his cheek, eyes wide.

"You _cut_ me?" he said incredulously.

"Don't you remember?"

Mako's hand migrated to his mouth, pressing a finger against his lips.

"Was it when you punched me?" he guessed.

"Good deduction."

Mako glanced around the room, apparently making _another_ brilliant deduction.

"You brought me to a healer," he said, fingernail worrying his bandage. Korra cocked her head to the side.

"Don't sound so scandalized. I bring all the deadbeats here after a fight. Leaving people unconscious on the street puts a bad taste in my mouth."

"Huh," Mako said, glancing around the room again. He paused, brow furrowing, "Wait, _deadbeat_?"

"Eh," Korra said, "You're alright." She reached out and punched his shoulder, "That was a close fight, I'll admit it. I'll even buy you a drink as a sign of goodwill. What do you say?"

Mako breathed a laugh, and his light eyes seemed to brighten slightly as he looked up at her. Korra's inner fire swelled, and just this once she didn't scold it. His light eyes and lighter skin was comforting, like a promise that sparks rolling off her palm weren't so scary. He nodded slowly.

"Alright," he said, "Sounds good."

.o.O.o.

"You know," Mako said, cupping the warm drink closer to his face, "When you said "drinks", this wasn't what I was expecting."

Korra shrugged, sipping her own moon tea. It wasn't actually a tea, since apparently no plant that grew in the South Pole was suitable for steeping, but it was a sort of juice-like beverage that worked as a substitute. It didn't even much taste like tea; the salty-sweet tang of it closer to the taste of sea prunes than anything else. Korra smacked her lips together, rolling the drink on her tongue.

"If you really want, you can add a touch of fire whiskey."

Mako frowned, looking down at the greenish-brown liquid.

"Fire whiskey? Really?" he said, "Wouldn't something a little more… subtle be better?"

"Maybe," she said, "I've just always thought fire whiskey gave it a good kick."

Earlier, Korra had led Mako through the almost-silent streets of Republic City; under overlapping roof tiles that rang out whenever it rained, down paths so thin she could touch the buildings on either side of her if she only held out her arms, and seemingly through an invisible veil that transported them both into a world of blue banners and dancing bodies, the smell of sweat mingling with the salt from the bay.

"Hey, what are they doing over there?" Mako asked, jerking his chin in the direction of a dancing crowd. The majority of the dancers had linked hands into a circle and were moving back and forth in a pattern clearly designed to represent water. But in the middle of the circle a stood a man and a woman, hand in hand and unmoving. They stared at each other with wide grins.

"Oh!" Korra straightened up in her seat, craning her neck to get a better look at the dancers, "The midnight dance is starting. They always get a newlywed couple to kick it off."

As if hearing her voice, the man and woman suddenly stepped away from each other, remaining connected by their fingertips, and began to walk in a slow circle. One pulled an arm back slowly, and the other pushed forward to keep from breaking the contact between their skin. Slowly they increased their speed, movements becoming more and more complicated as the drumbeat grew louder and more people joined the circle around the couple. Eventually their steps steadied to a repetitive back and forth, and other pairs stepped forward. Most appeared to be couples, but there were others as well: a mother and son, a set of girls who looked so similar that they must have been sisters, some friends, and one man and woman who looked furious to be dancing together at all.

Korra hummed along to the melody from the flute, smiling to herself quietly. Beside her, Mako seemed to be leaning forward in interest. She heard the soft murmur of his voice.

"_One two three four, five six seven eight."_

Korra laughed.

"What are you doing?" she asked. Mako flushed, looking down.

"Just trying to figure out what kind of dance this is." He said under his breath. Korra laughed again.

"It's not really that kind of dance," she said, looking at him curiously, "You know how to dance?"

"No!" he said quickly, eyes snapping to her in wide amber panic. Korra snorted at his horrified expression, grabbing his shoulder and pulling him to his feet.

"Come on," she half-shouted over the noise, "I'll show you."

Her hand slid down his arm as she drew him through the dancers towards the thickest part of the crowd, settling over his clammy hand and gripping his fingers tightly.

Suddenly she stopped, turning towards him and lifting her hands, palm up. After a moment of hesitation he placed his hands above hers, palm down, an inch of air between them. She gently closed the gap so that their gloves pressed together.

"Alright," she half-shouted through the music, "It's really simple. You step towards me, you step away from me, you step towards me. Back and forth, as we move in a circle. Just follow my arm movements. There'll be a change in the music, and then we switch directions. Got it?"

Mako nodded.

Korra stared at him for a moment, waiting for him to move. He stepped forward slowly, unsure, and Korra mirrored his movement. With a grin she pushed forward, forcing him to half-jump as she rushed him to step back. He frowned at her, and this time when he stepped forward it was quick and aggressive.

Their steps were rapid and sharp, to the beat of the music, and they spun fast enough to make them dizzy as Korra moved both of their arms in a pattern like waterbending. Suddenly the flutes' volume fell and the ice harps' swelled; Korra gripped Mako's wrists and spun them the other way, pushing and pulling with no control and nearly crashing into an older couple.

Korra yanked Mako forward, putting her mouth near his ear.

"You're terrible at this!" she said. He pushed her back, making a face.

"Well maybe you're just a terrible teacher."

"Impossible." Korra stepped back as he moved forward, "I'm the greatest teacher in the world."

The music changed again, and this time it was Mako who grabbed onto Korra and half threw her into the opposite direction. She let out a small yelp of surprise, nearly falling over before they found their rhythm again. Korra wanted to wipe away the sweat that was collecting on her upper lip, but as Mako let out a breathy laugh she couldn't bring herself to pull her hand away.

They stepped closer together, their circle becoming smaller and faster with each push and pull of the dance, until they had to grip each other tightly to keep from breaking apart. Korra tripped and nearly fell, but Mako lurched forward and grabbed her by her forearms, hauling her back to her feet.

They had migrated to a spot closer to the edge of the dancers, near a wall where an ice-harpist was playing his instrument, waterbending the icicle strands back and forth between liquid water and ice so quickly they bent like metal strings. Korra put her hands onto Mako's shoulders, laughing breathily as she leaned into him and pulled them both to a stop. He said something to her, but the music was too loud in her ears, and all she saw were his lips moving.

Suddenly the drums thumped more loudly than before, and the other instruments went quiet all at once as the dancers twisted to a halt, hands still clasped. Out on the bay the clock on Aang Memorial Island thrummed the twelve-note chime for midnight, and a cheer went up among the people.

A man to their left grabbed his dance partner, dipping her low fast enough to make her shriek in delight before covering her mouth with his and kissing her deeply. Several people cheered, while still others turned to their lovers and crushed their lips together.

Mako turned bright pink, staring at the mass display of PDA with an expression bordering on panic.

"Wha—"

"Tradition," Korra said quickly, not looking at him, "It's lucky to be with a lover on the longest night."

There was a long silence.

"…Oh."

Korra's hands were still on Mako's shoulders. She looked up, feeling her face heat and he shyly avoided her gaze.

"Do you want to—"

She grabbed his stupid red scarf and yanked him downwards.

And then they were kissing.

.o.O.o.

***Crawls out of hole***

**I LIIIIIIIVVVVVVEEEEEEEEE**

**Romance is hard. How the fuck do people become romantically involved in real life? GAH.**

**I'm tired and finally decided that editing each chapter fifty times isn't good for my sanity so here have the only twenty-five time edited copy. I have an editing problem. Next chapter no editing…**

**Ok maybe a little editing.**

**Anyways review and insult my work to high hell. But be nice about it. But not **_**too **_**nice.**


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